Bella
by TheMostRandomOfRandomWriters
Summary: Tony met in her while he was in Afghanistan. He brought her back with him when he came back.
1. Chapter 1

"Wake up. We have work to do," whispered a voice.

Bella sat up, blinking sleep from her eyes. It was dark in the cave. What time was it? She never knew. "What is it?"

Yinsen gestured to something lying on a bench. In the dim light, it took Bella a moment to recognize what it was. A man's body.

"Is he dead?" she asked.

"Not yet, but he will be. I need help. There's shrapnel imbedded in his chest. They put an electromagnet in him, but I'm not sure if that will be enough."

She nodded. This was _not_ the best place for a medical procedure to be carried out. But it would have to do.

000000000

After the procedure, Bella flopped back on her bench. "I hope this works. If the magnet shuts down, that should give him an extra few minutes for someone else to get it working again." She almost didn't want to know whether or not it worked.

"We'll know soon enough," said Yinsen. "Do you know who that is?"

She shook her head.

"Tony Stark."

The incredibly rich weapons maker. She'd thought he'd looked familiar.

"They want him to build a Jericho missile for them."

Bella felt sick for a moment. Merely one of those missiles would be more than enough to wipe out New York City. What the terrorists could do with that… she didn't want to think about it.

000000000

Stark soon started to moan and twitch. He started to pull at one of the wires they'd put in his chest.

"Don't touch those!" yelped Bella, jumping and running to him.

He pulled his hand away and turned his head to look at the car battery they'd hooked him up to.

"What did you do to me? What's going on?"

"There was a lot of shrapnel in you. We managed to get some of it out. Not all of it." Bella bent over to inspect their work. "There's an electromagnet keeping it out of your heart for now."

"Who are you?"

"Isabel. Call me Bella."

"What's going on?"

Bella hesitated for a moment.

Footsteps sounded outside. "You'll be finding out very shortly, Mr. Stark."

She doubted he'd enjoy the experience.

00000000000

They returned him in what Bella calculated to be four hours and thirty two minutes. Time passed so slowly when they didn't want her for anything.

"How did it go?" she asked.

He didn't answer, instead staggering to his bench.

"Anything I can do to help?" asked Bella.

He shook his head.

"You die either way," she said. "The only difference is that it'll be relatively painless if you do what they want."

"Why are you here?"

"About the same reason you are. They have me improve whatever they get, and construct more weapons when necessary."

"What? How old are you, thirteen?"

"Don't know, honestly, I think I stopped counting birthdays at eleven. I was created by an organization that wanted me to design weapons, to be a genius. There was a whole program. We were programmed with information that could be used in the creation of weapons, and the mental capability to use it to its fullest, even at just six years old. I can only remember my life since I was six, which is when they finished programming all the information into my memory. I've been doing it ever since. It's the only thing I know how to do, really."

He stared.

"They erased my memory of everything I can remember about them and sold me to the highest bidder. I've been passed around quite a bit. I have been here for around six months, which is a record, and have a good knowledge of your weapons. They are truly impressive, by the way. If you agree to build the missile, I will be your assistant to help you."

He was silent for a while. "I'm getting out of here," he said after a while.

"You try that. I did."

She unconsciously rubbed at the small scar on her cheek, the one that had never really went away. The guards had been very mad about the whole thing.

"I'm getting us out of here. You, me, and Yinsen."

"Everyone who they bring here says that they're going to. I always advise them to the contrary. They always try and fail. And they always die. Please, don't."

"This time it'll be different."

"Why?"

"Because I'm Tony Stark, Izzy."

"_Izzy_?" she repeated.

"Yeah."

Bella sighed. "Do what you wish. I'm not going to stop you. But unless you have a better idea than the last person, please don't expect me to join you."

"What idea did the last person have? And hey, are you British? You sound British."

"My memory was erased, I don't know where I'm from. I assume it's England because it's the only explanation I can come up for the accent."

"When we get out, I'll see if we can find out."

"_If_, Mr. Stark. A very big if. And please remember, if you get caught, that I advised you against it. What's your plan?"

"Still working on it."

"Just don't tell me it's stealing a gun and sneaking out. The last person tried that. It didn't work."

There was a short silence.

"Are you going to agree to help them?"

"I need time to work on my plan. So yes, I am."

The door opened and Yinsen answered. "They want an answer, Mr. Stark."

"Tell them yes."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Mr. Stark?" asked Bella.

"Of course I know what I'm doing, Izzy."

"Please don't call me that."

**Please read and review! I'm not sure how good I am with writing Tony's character… any words of advice would be welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Welcome to the workshop, Mr. Stark," said Bella. "Here you'll find everything you could possibly want for building nearly anything."

"They let you play with this stuff?" asked Mr. Stark, eying the tools.

"The only people alive who consider me a child are you, Yinsen, and the law." She pushed a strand of her curly brown hair behind one ear. "Right, let's get working then."

"Who are these people anyhow?"

"They call themselves the Ten Rings. Your loyal customers. The army isn't the only group that buys your weapons, you know."

00000

The first thing Bella noticed about the project was that it wasn't a missile.

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" she asked, eying his work.

"This is our ticket out. A miniaturized arc reactor. I've got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart and generate power."

"And you're assuming I'm going to help you instead of telling the guards."

"No, I don't think you're going to tell. You want out as much as I do. Probably more."

He was right. Bella had, indirectly, killed a lot of people. And this missile… she wasn't going to do this anymore. "Power for what?"

"The suit of armor we're going to build. I'm going to use it to break out. Yinsen can go back to his family. And you, if you want, can come stay with me."

"This is the strangest plan anyone's come up with yet. And also the one with the highest chance of succeeding. I'm in. What can I do to help?"

00000

Time had always gone faster when Bella was working on a project. This time, it dragged as every day brought them closer to freedom. They spent whatever time not spent on the "missile" in the little room where they'd performed the operation. Bella usually lay on her bench and daydreamed about getting away and what she'd do when they finally escaped. Mr. Stark and Yinsen usually talked together.

"So," said Mr. Stark one evening. "I know about Izzy here. But you haven't told me where you're from, Yinsen."

"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place."

"Got a family?"

Yinsen had never talked about them really, but he had mentioned them once or twice.

"Yes. I will see them when I leave. And you, Stark?"

"No."

"Then you're a man who has everything and nothing."

00000

Bella had always hated deadlines.

When they were given one day to complete the "missile", she knew they'd better step it up.

"They're coming," announced Yinsen.

Mr. Stark was already getting into the armor. "Nothing pretty, just get it done," he said. "Izzy, Yinsen, wait for me to clear the way before you go, got it?"

Isabel swallowed and nodded. Her heart knocked against her ribs. This could actually work.

"I'm going to buy some time," announced Yinsen suddenly.

"Stick to the plan!" said Bella. "No, Yinsen. Stick to the plan!"

"Izzy, get down, hide," ordered Mr. Stark.

"Mr. Stark, please, don't call me Izzy."

Bella crawled under a table.

Yelling. Gunshots. She covered her ears, but it did little block the sound.

When the noise stopped, she crawled out. Mr. Stark, wearing the armor, was kneeling by Yinsen.

"Come on, get up, you're going to see your family," said Mr. Stark.

"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark."

Bella crawled out from under the table. "No no no! Yinsen! No!"

"This was always part of the plan… don't waste your life, Stark."

Tears streamed down Isabel's face. "No," she whispered. "Please…"

And then he lay back.

"Come on, Izzy, we have to go," said Mr. Stark.

They went through the hideout and into the sunlight. It almost blinded her when she saw it. She stared up at the sky.

Then a gun went off.

Pain shot through Bella's head. She shrieked. The world went blurry and she fell forward. Mr. Stark wrapped a metal arm around her.

"You can make it out, Izzy. Come on."

Bella shook her head. One greasy and now bloodstained brown curl hung in her face. She brushed it back. "I'll just slow you down. Make it out. Please. For me. We can't both, you bring me, they'll get you."

Everything went black.

When she woke up, someone was carrying her. Above her was light blue sky. She just stared at it for a few moments, for the first time in months. Wind ruffled her hair, but the temperature was hot.

She turned her head to see who had her.

"I told you to leave me."

"Leaving people behind isn't really my style." He wasn't wearing the armor any more. He looked hot and exhausted.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

She faded in and out for a while. Sometimes, she was aware of how much her head hurt. And, other times, she wasn't aware of anything.

Then there was a loud noise. Bella moaned. Then she was aware she was moving quickly.

"How was the 'Fun-vee?'" asked a voice.

"Next time, you ride with me, okay?" said Tony.

"Who's this?"

"Someone I picked up along the way. This is Izzy."

Then she was being moved quickly and being set down on something.

"Stay awake," ordered Mr. Stark. "Don't fall asleep."

Something pressed against the side of her head. Bella moaned. Everything went black.

**I hope I got everything okay with the scene where they escaped, I haven't seen **_**Iron Man**_** as of yet. Does anyone think Tony nicknaming Bella is a little out of character?**

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews and follows, I wasn't expecting quite so many!**


	3. Chapter 3

Things that need tending to often happen at very inconvenient times.

Tony Stark had held that opinion for years, and often found him in situations which proved it.

Tony _had_ told JARVIS to alert him when and if Izzy started improving, no matter where he was or what time it did. After Afghanistan, Izzy hadn't woken up. It had been a few months, and she was still unconscious. After the hospital had said there was nothing else they could do, he'd had her brought to his house. JARVIS had an eye on her – well, not literally, since he was a computer – but he monitored her 24/7. There was no reason why she should be asleep still, but she hadn't so much as twitched in the year or so since everything had happened.

He was worried, and he wanted to know the moment she started to wake up.

But, of all the times she picked to wake up, it was in the middle of the opening of the Stark Expo.

He was at the side of the platform as a video about his father played for everyone to watch. His cell phone buzzed. Tony moved his hand to turn the phone off, but something made him step off the platform and down next to the stage to answer.

"Hello, Sir," said JARVIS's voice.

"JARVIS? Is something wrong at the house?"

"Your friend is waking up. You said you wanted to know when she did, Sir."

_Now? _She could have picked a worse time to wake up, he supposed. Like when he went to Gulmira the year before. Or during his fight with Obie shortly after.

Still, did it have to be during the middle of the opening of Stark Expo?

00000

Bella woke up lying on something soft. She lay there for a moment, then opened her eyes, then quickly shut them again against the bright light.

She tried again.

She wasn't in a hospital room. There were several needles and tubes in her, but it wasn't a hospital room. It looked like a room in someone's house. A large room, though mostly empty. How had she gotten here?

The door swung open.

"Izzy?"

"Mr. Stark?"

Everything came rushing back.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine. Where am I?" She sat up.

"At my house," said Mr. Stark. "In California. You've been out for a year."

"What!?" yelped Bella. "Anything interesting happen?" She couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Yes. First, I shut down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries. Yinsen told me not to waste my life. I didn't want a body count to be my only legacy."

"There's five other girls from my program to produce them. Between them, they could easily develop enough weapons to satisfy all the armies in the world. Not to mention the terrorists."

A faint glow emitted through the suit Tony was wearing.

"How's the arc reactor?"

"It's… working fine," he said. "I built a suit that's powered on it and became a superhero."

"What?" said Bella. "You've been busy, then."

"Yeah. I'm Iron Man. What do you think?"

Bella was still stuck at "I shut down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries" and said nothing, but Mr. Stark didn't wait for a response.

"Okay. I need to ask you something. You remember I said you could stay with me after we got out of Afghanistan?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to?"

"If you want me around."

"Sure I do." He hesitated a moment, as if trying to figure out how just how to word something. "Would you be okay with being legally adopted?"

"What?"

"I know it's kind of sudden, but I do need to get started on it. If there are people who know who you are, they'll want to get you back, but they might hesitate to go after Bella Stark."

"Of course I don't object, Mr. Stark."

"And call me Tony."

"Okay. Tony." It felt so strange to call an adult by his first name. She'd never done that before in her life. "If you're not inventing weapons, then what _are_ you doing?"

"Nothing much, at the moment. I'm still deciding which direction to take the company."

00000

Tony's cell phone buzzed. Probably Pepper, wondering why he wasn't at the Expo. That could wait.

Izzy's blue grey gaze directed toward the ceiling. Tony just watched her. Her brown hair spilled over the pillows. Her face was very pale – though it had always been pale, due to a lack of exposure to light, it was even paler than usual. She looked far from well. But at least she was awake.

What was he going to do?

With the palladium his arc reactor poisoning him, he wouldn't be there forever. He was going to die, and she'd be alone.

He would hand over his company to Pepper, his personal assistant. He'd considered every possible candidate, then realized that she was really the only person he could ever give it to. He would break the news to her soon.

What about Izzy, though?

Again, Pepper seemed the best choice. He didn't doubt that she'd take care of the girl, no matter whether she actually wanted to or not. But Izzy would have people after her. No matter what, the girl always have to watch her back, always have to be extremely careful who she trusted, always have to make sure that no one was coming back to get her. If Pepper took care of her, then she would be pulled into that as well.

The name "Stark" was, at least now, one that would give anyone who wanted to go after Izzy some pause. But if he wasn't there, then it wouldn't help her as much.

He would have to talk to Pepper and ask her. It wasn't fair to involve her in this without telling her everything. And to do that, he'd have to tell Pepper everything. He wasn't ready for that.

It could wait a little longer.


	4. Chapter 4

"You're signing over your company to your personal assistant," repeated Bella. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yup."

"Why?" She didn't understand it. Not that she had anything against Pepper, but why on earth was he signing over the company at all?

He didn't answer.

Bella wobbled. Tony grabbed her arm to steady her. "You okay?"

"Just getting used to standing upright again," she replied. It was her first time really being up and about, walking around the house, since she'd woken up and she was feeling very unsteady. "Why are you signing your company over?"

"Just this way," said Tony, walking her into a large room. A boxing ring stood in the middle of the room. Off to the side were couches and chairs.

Bella sank down on one of the couches. She didn't think her legs could support her for much longer.

"You okay?" asked Tony.

Bella nodded.

Tony walked over to the boxing ring, where someone was waiting for him, his friend and bodyguard, who had said to call him Happy. Bella watched them for a while.

"You're finally up?"

Bella turned to see Pepper sitting down in the chair beside her.

"Yes."

"Tony, can you take a moment? The notary's here!" she called.

A woman had followed Pepper into the room and started going over the contents of a folder with her. At the sight of her, Tony stopped his match and stared.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Rushman, Natalie Rushman."

"Come on up." He lifted the ropes so the woman could climb into the boxing ring.

"You're seriously not going to ask her to–" began Pepper, but Natalie climbed into the ring.

Tony stared at Natalie. He didn't say anything. He just stared at her.

There was silence for a moment.

"Can you, uh, give her a lesson," said Tony to the man he had been boxing.

Bella pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the boxing ring, watching.

"You ever boxed before?" asked Happy.

"Yes, I have," replied Miss Rushman.

"How do you spell your name, Natalie?" asked Tony from the couch.

"R-U-S-H-M-A-N," she replied, casting a glance at Bella, but not saying anything.

"See? That's always lesson number one," said the man, throwing his hand at her while her head was turned away. "Always keep an eye on your oppone-"

She grabbed his arm and twisted, then brought him to the ground with her legs.

Bella gasped. Pepper yelled and jumped up from her chair.

"That's what I'm talking about," said Tony.

"I slipped," said the man.

Bella started laughing too.

Miss Rushman approached Mr. Stark and started going over things with him, and then left.

"I like her," said Tony.

Bella agreed.

"I think she's it," continued Tony.

"No, she isn't," said Pepper.

"What do you mean, she's 'it'?"

"I need a new assistant now that Pepper's running Stark Industries. I think that's her."

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The look on Izzy's face when she stepped inside Tony's workshop reminded him of a five year old's on Christmas morning.

"Oh, wow," she said. "Those are your suits?" she gestured to the row of them on the wall.

"Yes."

"What's this?"

She reached toward the pieces of silvery metal on a table.

"Just something I'm working on," he replied. "It's another suit, only with a few changes."

"What sort of upgrades have you made since Afghanistan?"

"The suits fly now. And I upgraded the weapons. And I've connected them to JARVIS. He tells me how the systems are running and gives me information on my surroundings."

"That's brilliant."

"What do you think of the colors?"

"For you? They're perfect."

"What would you have picked? For you?"

Izzy studied the suits on the wall. "A dark shade of blue and silver," she replied. "Blue where yours are red, and silver where yours are gold."

Izzy walked over to the suits. "Has anyone tried to replicate them yet? I would be surprised if they hadn't. I mean, who wouldn't at least try if they had the resources?"

"They've tried all right. They can't," said Tony with a grin. "The government wants me to turn it over. Ever heard of Justin Hammer?"

"Yes," replied Izzy. "Has _he_ tried to replicate your suit?" Her tone betrayed her doubt that Hammer could do it.

Her doubt, Tony thought, was very well founded. "Yes. Didn't go so well, but the government has him helping them. They made my best friend give information that would make me look bad. I'm sort of glad you weren't able to stand up yet, they probably would have made you do it too."

She went back to studying the pieces of silvery metal on the table. She glanced around the ceiling for a moment. She couldn't have missed the dents from the first couple suit testings. He'd never gotten around to having them fixed.

"Do you like Natalie?" he asked.

"What?" Izzy seemed to think for a moment. "Couldn't say. I don't know her."

"I'm thinking I'll hire her. With Stark Expo and no Pepper as my assistant, she'd be helpful."

Izzy shrugged. "If you think it's a good idea. But don't you think it's a bit odd that she was able to take down your bodyguard so easily?"

Even if it _was_ a mistake – which he wouldn't know unless he hired her – it wasn't as if he was going to be around for much longer in any case.

**Thank you to all you lovely readers and reviewers! Please leave your comments and any suggestions you might have in the box below. Unless, of course, all you have to say is "Your story is absolute rubbish", in which case, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.**


	5. Chapter 5

Bella had been a lot of places in the few years of her life that she could remember. Mostly, she'd spent all her time in those places in labs, but she could still say she'd been there.

In any case, Monaco wasn't one of them.

When they pulled up in front of the hotel, there was press everywhere. Bella suddenly felt sick. This was not good. Her face splattered everywhere. Bad idea.

People crowded toward them as they walked forward. Reporters yelled questions. It took every bit of restraint Bella not to turn and run.

She followed Tony and Pepper around as people greeted them and took pictures. No one addressed her, and she was content to just watch. Briefly, Tony talked with Justin Hammer. He was the first person to even address Bella's existence.

"Hey, isn't that the girl you're adopting?" asked Hammer, peering over at her.

"Yes. This is Izzy," said Tony. "You know who this is, right, Izzy?"

"Justin Hammer," replied Bella. "Yes, I've heard of you, Mr. Hammer."

"He tells you about me?"

"Yeah, I told her about your contract being revoked," said Tony.

"Actually, it was put on hold."

"What's the difference? The truth?" asked Tony.

Bella grinned.

After Tony vanished for a while, she went to find Natalie and Pepper. They were watching the events leading up to the Grand Prix on a TV screen.

And that was when Tony walked onscreen.

Bella gasped.

_"Well what's the use of having and owning a race car if you don't drive it?" _asked Tony on the screen.

Bella groaned.

"Do you know about this?" asked Pepper, addressing Natalie.

"This is the first I've heard of it."

"This cannot happen," said Pepper.

"Absolutely. I understand. How can I help you?"

"Where's Happy?"

"He's waiting outside."

"Get him, I need Happy."

Natalie walked off.

"Bella, you're going to have to stay here with Natalie."

Bella nodded.

And then the screen showed someone stepping into the middle of the track. A man. He tore his shirt open, revealing… was that an arc reactor?

And then two energy whips sprouted from his arms and he sliced through the car speeding toward him.

Pepper stood up and walked away quickly.

"Help," whispered Bella, staring at the screen as Tony sped toward the man with the energy whips.

The whip cut through the car. Bella couldn't make a sound. She couldn't breathe. Her heart thudded against her ribs.

"Miss Stark?" asked Natalie.

Bella didn't respond. Her eyes felt as if they were glued to the screen. The man with the whips walked to the car and brought the whip down again.

The seat was empty.

Tony appeared suddenly, whacking him over the head.

And then a car slammed into the man. Happy and Pepper.

Bella could see that Pepper and Tony were yelling at each other. Then the man started moving again.

"Miss Stark? Are you all right?" Natalie again.

Bella didn't respond. She couldn't. She felt absolutely helpless, watching the events on the screen.

They were fighting again. The man with the whips sliced through the side of the car.

Bella gasped.

Pepper, onscreen, threw a suitcase at Tony. It unfolded into his suit. He pulled it on and fired at the man, only to be entangled in an energy whip.

Bella couldn't tear her eyes away.

Then the car slammed into the man. Again and again.

That took him out.

Bella relaxed finally, for what seemed like the first time in years.

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Izzy met them on the steps of the hotel. Natalie stood behind her, watching.

"What. Were. You. Doing?!" she demanded, running toward him.

Admittedly, maybe that _hadn't _been one of his brighter ideas. But it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Izzy wrapped both her skinny arms around him in a hug.

"I thought you were going to die!" she said.

"So did I," he said.

The looks which both Pepper and Natalie shot him told him this was probably not the best thing he could have said.

Izzy pulled away, glaring. "What on Earth possessed you to do that?" He'd never really seen her angry before. And he'd thought Pepper was scary when she was mad.

He couldn't tell her. Not here. Not now. "Let's just go inside. Here is not the best place." Reporters pressed in toward them, shouting questions. If he was going to apologize, then he wasn't going to do it with everyone watching.

She still looked angry, but followed him inside.

"It was a mistake, Izzy. A big mistake. And I'm sorry." He was pretty sure that was the first time he'd said "I'm sorry" in a long time.

Pepper shot him a 'you're forgetting something' look.

"I'm so sorry," he added, then turned slightly to face Pepper as well. "To both of you."

He meant every word of it. He hadn't been thinking straight. How could he have possibly thought it was a good idea?

**I've had a few people ask if I'm going to add in a little Tony/Bella romance. The answer is no. There are main reasons for this.**

**1. I like Pepperony.**

**2. I doubt Tony Stark would be romantically interested in a teenaged girl. Admittedly, I haven't mentioned her age yet, but remember, Tony thought she was thirteen in chapter one. Although he didn't get it quite right, I **_**don't **_**think he's going to fall in love with a girl around that age.  
**

**Reviews motivate to me update, by the way, and are a good way to make suggestions, should anyone have any.  
**


	6. Chapter 6

"You're sure I can leave you here just fine?" asked Tony.

"I'll be fine," predicted Bella. "Vanko's dead, and if I do need anything, I can call Pepper or Natalie."

The man who had attacked Tony, Ivan Vanko, had been put in jail, but an explosion in his cell had killed him. Bella knew she shouldn't be glad, but she did feel relieved that he wouldn't come after them again.

"If you're sure," said Tony. "Oh, and Natalie's coming by to deal with some stuff about my birthday party. There's a folder she'll need in the drawer over there."

Bella nodded. As Tony retreated, she returned her attention to the chemicals she was mixing inside the test tubes, mentally working through equations.

"Miss Stark, Miss Rushman is at the door," said JARVIS. "She says Mr. Stark had some things she needed to deal with here."

"Okay, let her in." She eyed the chemicals. If she ran upstairs to give Natalie the folder, it would foam over before she got back and could do anything to keep it down. "And ask her to please come down here, I have something I need to give her."

Natalie appeared a few minutes later.

"There's a folder over there in the drawer for you, sorry I couldn't bring it up," she pointed toward it the drawer, "but this would have made a mess if I'd left,"

"Thank you, Miss Stark. You like chemistry?"

"I dabble a little, yes." Bella poured the green contents of a test tube into the beaker.

"Are you from England? You sound British."

"Yes." Bella was pretty sure she was, anyhow – she'd never heard anything to contradict her theory.

"Really? Where? What's it like?"

Bella's mind raced. She _had_ spent a short time there… "Wet. Lots of rain."

"What happened? How'd you end up in Afghanistan?"

Natalie was only being curious, something Bella couldn't blame her for. But these questions were starting to make the girl uncomfortable. "That's… I'd rather not talk about it."

Natalie nodded. "Okay."

"What about you? Where are you from?"

"I grew up here, in California," she replied. "Did you have any friends back home?"

Bella nearly shook her head in response, then remembered Yinsen. She tried not to think about it, but she was still grieving his death. He was, aside from Tony, the closest thing she'd ever had to her friend. She'd never spent more than ten minutes with someone her own age. "Yes," she replied. "He died."

"I'm sorry."

Bella set the beaker on the side. Natalie retrieved the folder from the drawer.

Something felt a little off about Natalie. Bella wasn't sure what. But it was as if she was hiding something too. Hiding something makes a person better at guessing when others are doing the same.

"Do you what's happening with the government trying to confiscate Tony's suits? I can't seem to find anything out?"

"Although, after what happened in Monaco, some people have been making the case that he's too reckless to be permitted to own them, it seems to be at a bit a standstill. Neither is backing down."

Suddenly, the lights went out and the room plunged into darkness.

Bella couldn't breathe for a moment. The darkness seemed to close in on all sides, smothering. She started to gasp for air.

"Miss Stark?" said Natalie. "Are you alright?"

Bella fought to keep the panic down, but it did no good.

"Here, just a moment."

A small beam of light appeared, dimly illuminating the room.

"Are you okay?" asked Natalie.

Bella fought to act normal. "Yeah, yeah…"

"Are you afraid of the dark?"

It wasn't so much the dark she was afraid of as what had happened _in _the dark. She didn't remember very well – just bits and pieces. A dark cave, pitch darkness, something lurking nearby, something she couldn't see.

Bella recalled a story from many years before. "I was… in a cave once. And I got lost. It was so dark..." The cave had been below a HYDRA base. She had been trying to escape and gotten lost. But that wasn't the cave in this memory. That one was much worse.

"Ah," said Natalie.

"It was years ago. I'm fine." Bella's cheeks burned. Even Tony hadn't discovered her intense fear of the dark as of yet. "Power should be back on in a minute."

There was silence for a while.

And then the lights turned back on.

Natalie left.

Bella went back to the contents of the beaker, going over the ingredients in the mixture. She added one more chemical. "JARVIS, kill the lights."

The room went dark again. This time, a glow emitted from the beaker, dimly illuminating the area.

"That's better," she said. "Lights please."

The lights flickered back on. She started out again with a new beaker.


	7. Chapter 7

Bella had never been a particularly social girl, as far as she remembered.

That might be due to the fact she had known few people her own age during her life. Or because she had been designed to make weapons, not be a social butterfly. Or because she had spent most of her life working in labs, building weapons, instead of getting to know people.

Whatever the reason, she was perfectly happy to remain out of sight most of the time at Tony's birthday party. She tried to focus on a book, but couldn't.

Natalie didn't seem to be the only person hiding something. Tony was too. Bella couldn't think what it would be. She could just tell, same as she could tell with Natalie. She hoped she was wrong, but something felt very wrong with both of them.

She occasionally stopped and observed the guests. Pepper and Natalie were there, as was a friend of Tony's that Bella had met once, Rhodey, he'd said to call him. Other than that, it was all people Bella had never seen before.

She was focusing so hard on the book that she didn't notice anything was going on until someone tugged her arm.

"Bella?"

Bella looked up. It was Pepper.

"We need to get out. Now."

Her voice was full of urgency. Bella stood.

"Pepper, what's going on?" asked Bella.

Pepper opened her mouth to respond, then turned her attention to Natalie, who was walking quickly toward them. "Natalie!"

"Miss Potts?"

"Don't you Miss Potts me! I'm onto you! You know what, ever since you came here –"

She was cut off by Tony and someone in a grey Iron Man suit falling through the ceiling.

Bella shrieked. She ran to the entrance and into the crowd of people standing outside.

"What's going on, Pepper?"

"Things have gotten a little… out of control."

"What happened?" Bella asked, then decided she didn't want to know. "Is this how he always is?"

"No. Just since Natalie came."

The two men in the suits were yelling and fighting.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

Bella agreed and they made their way to the back of the crowd.

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Houses can be mended relatively easily. Relationships are harder.

Tony had never thought about that before. But as he surveyed what was left of his house, that thought was what came to mind. He'd had bad ideas in his life, but last night's was his greatest achievement yet. Usually, a person's greatest achievement is something to be proud of. This one was not. He'd gotten into a fight with his best friend, wrecked his house and made almost everyone he knew angry. Rhodey had flown away with the suit he'd borrowed. Tony hadn't tried to stop him.

Tony walked down into the workshop, which was relatively undamaged.

Sitting on a table was the suit he had been building for Izzy. Dark blue and silver, just like she'd said she'd make it if she were designing one for herself.

He had been planning on telling Izzy about in a day or two, it was finished and everything. After he was gone, it would be easier for her to keep people off her back if she was known to have a suit, maybe occasionally be his sidekick. She would be safe in the armor.

"_Iron Man doesn't have a sidekick!" _he'd yelled at Rhodey.

What had he been thinking?

The building – his house – could be fixed easily. It would cost money, yes, but it wouldn't be so bad.

His relationships – with Rhodey, with Pepper, with Izzy – those would be much harder to fix, and all the money in the world wouldn't help.

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Bella spent the night at Pepper's, on the couch. She woke up in the morning still feeling tired.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Pepper when she came out in the morning. "Never mind, I can tell. Like I said. He's not always like this."

"Do you know where he is?" asked Bella.

"No. He'd probably be happy to see you, though, if you're not angry."

"I'm not," said Bella. "I'm just… I don't know. I need to talk to him. Did all this really start when Natalie came?"

"Yes," replied Pepper.

"Where do you think I could find Tony? Think he's still at the house?"

"I have no idea." Pepper, Bella guessed from her tone, was still angry about the night before. "You could call him, I suppose."

Bella nodded. "Can I please use the phone?"

Pepper nodded.

Bella dialed Tony's number and waited.

"Hello," said Tony's voice.

"Tony. Hi. It's Bella. Where are you? Back at the house?"

"No. I'm outside a doughnut shop, thinking about last night. You don't sound like you're upset at all."

"I've never been particularly good at staying angry. Where's the doughnut shop?"

He gave her an address and she hung up.

Ten minutes later, she found herself staring up into the ring of a giant doughnut. Tony sat perched up there, wearing the Iron Man suit and sunglasses. He had a box of doughnuts next to him.

He dropped down next to her, grabbed her, and pulled her up with him.

"Thanks," said Bella.

"How mad's Pepper?"

"Very mad."

"Anybody get hurt?"

"Not that I heard about."

"Bella, I… there's something I haven't told you or anyone," said Tony. "That I should have."

"Okay," said Bella.

Footsteps sounded below.

"Sir, I'm going to ask you to please step out of the doughnut," said a voice. "You too, Miss."

Bella looked down to see a man with an eye patch standing below them. Judging by the black leather outfit, she doubted he worked at the doughnut shop.

**Sorry about taking so long to update... does everyone think I'm keeping Tony in character?  
**


	8. Chapter 8

"I've already told you, I don't want to join your super secret boy band," said Tony as he sat down at a booth inside the restaurant.

"I seem to recall you like doing everything for yourself. How's that working out for you?" said the man, who Tony had introduced as Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. The name was vaguely familiar to Bella, but she wasn't sure where from. She was immediately wary – there were many organizations which would love to get their hands on Bella.

Tony grumbled something as Bella slid in next to him. "I don't want to get off the wrong foot, do I look at the patch or the eye?"

Bella stifled a groan.

"Sorry, I'm not sure if you're real," he continued.

"I am _very real_," replied the director, looking annoyed. "I'm the realest person you're ever going to meet."

"Just my luck."

"Where's the staff here?" asked Bella.

The director didn't answer, but he gazed at Tony's neck. "That's not looking too good."

For the first time, Bella saw strange black marks on Tony's neck. "What is that?" she asked.

"Uh… that's what I was going to tell you about," said Tony. "Palladium, as it turns out, is poisonous, especially if you have it inside your body."

"_What_?" yelled Bella, turning her full attention to Tony. "You're _dying_ and you didn't tell anyone?"

"Well, I was planning to tell you at some point…"

"We've secured the perimeter but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer," said a familiar voice.

Bella turned to see a familiar red haired woman walking toward them.

"What's going on?" asked Bella.

"You're fired," said Tony.

"That's not up to you," said Natalie, seating herself across from Bella.

"Tony, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff," said Director Fury.

"I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. shadow, I was tasked to you by Director Fury."

"I suggest you apologize," said Mr. Stark.

"Sorry," said Bella. "I'm just over my limit of shocking discoveries that can be made in thirty seconds. I can only handle about one. So, Tony's dying from his arc reactor. And Natalie is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"Yes, that's right," said Natalie.

"You've been very busy," said Director Fury to Tony. "You made your girl your CEO, you're giving away all your stuff, you let your friend fly away with your suit. If I didn't know better –"

"You don't know better, I didn't give it to him, he took it."

"Whoa, what? You're Iron Man and he just _took it_?"

Bella stood up. "I'm just going to try to think for a moment. I'll just be over in the corner."

She stood up and walked to the other side of the building and sat down at another table.

Tony was _dying_? What? Why hadn't he told anyone? Why hadn't he told _her_? Was that why he'd been acting the way he was?

And Natalie was a secret agent. What? Why was she spying on them?

"Are you okay?"

It was Natalie.

"I'm fine," said Bella. "I just had a rather unpleasant surprise, is all."

"You have become a problem," said Director Fury to Tony on the other side of the room, "a problem _I_ have to deal with! Contrary to your belief, you are _not_ the centre of my universe. I have bigger problems than you in the south west region to deal with!"

"What does S.H.I.E.L.D. stand for?" asked Bella, not knowing what else to say to Natalie.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division."

"That's quite a mouthful."

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that," muttered Natalie, no, Agent Romanoff.

"_Is_ your name Natalie?"

She didn't reply, but instead pulled a box out from under the table, filling a needle with something.

"What is that?"

"Lithium dioxide. You like chemistry, you know what that is?"

Bella nodded. The substance was hardly a cure for palladium poisoning, but it would ease the symptoms.

Natalie – Bella had decided to call her that until she knew what her real first name was – walked over to Tony and shot the needle into the side of his neck.

Tony yelped. "Ah! Are you going to steal my kidney and sell it? Could you please not do anything awful for five seconds? What did you just do to me?"

"What did we just do _for_ you?" corrected Director Fury. "That's lithium dioxide, it's going to take the edge off. We're trying to get you back to work."

"Give me a couple boxes of that and I'll be right as rain," said Tony.

"It's not a cure," said Natalie. "It just abates the symptoms."

"Doesn't look like it's going to be an easy fix," said Director Fury.

"Trust me, I'm good at this stuff. I've been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium, I've tried every combination, every permeation of every known element."

"Well I'm here to tell you that you haven't tried them all," said Director Fury.

Bella stood up and walked across to them.

"You got any ideas, Izzy?" asked Tony.

Bella shook her head, trying to look as if it was a question to which there could only be one answer. As if, really, she wasn't capable of coming up with an answer. Not that she had one right now, but she was capable of it at least. "Sorry. I wish." She wasn't interested in telling anyone from the government about her past just yet.

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Bella went down to the workshop to see how much damage it had taken the night before while Tony talked more with Director Fury. It was in surprisingly good condition compared to the rest of the house.

She went to inspect the suits on the wall. Tony had dropped off the one he had been wearing before he went to continue his conversation with the man wearing the eye patch, but the silver one his opponent had been wearing the night before was missing.

The door swung open.

"Tony?" said Bella, turning around.

It wasn't Tony. It was a man she'd never seen before. She jumped. So far as she knew, the only people Tony permitted in here were Pepper, Rhodey, and herself. "If you're looking for Tony, he's not here."

"I'm not, I'm just checking something," he replied.

"Are you with S.H.I.E.L.D?"

He nodded. "Agent Phil Coulson. It's nice to meet you, Miss Stark. I mean, I've sort of met you before. I watched you while you were sleeping. I mean, I was present. While you were unconscious. From your head injury. What were you doing with the Ten Rings?"

Bella stiffened. Somehow, she doubted she'd be able to dodge around the question.

**I never thought I'd say this… but I'm not posting again until I get at least two more reviews. Because I hate going for chapter after chapter and having no idea what people think about what I've written. Suggestions, questions, and comments are welcomed.**


	9. Chapter 9

"I wasn't there of my own accord, Agent Coulson."

"Why were you there at all?"

"It's… complicated. And something I would really rather not get into, if that's all right."

"Where are you from? England?"

"I think so." She assumed it was England due to her accent, but she didn't actually know because her memory had been erased.

"You think so? Why don't you know?"

"I lost my memory years ago."

"But someone must have told you where you were from. Afterwards. Why did you lose your memory?"

She turned her attention to the broken glass on the floor and walked to the closet to get a broom, Dummy was nowhere to be seen and leaving there didn't seem like a good idea. "It's complicated and I'd _really_ rather not get into it."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. can find it out if you don't tell me. Why don't you just make it easier?"

Bella wasn't sure how well the existence of her and the others from the program was known. On one hand, S.H.I.E.L.D. might get the other girls out of it. Or they might just make them work for the organization.

Bella didn't know which it would be.

"Miss Stark? What's your real last name? Not Stark, the one you had before."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Amnesia, remember? I don't think I had one."

"That's starting to sound awfully convenient. S.H.I.E.L.D. _can _find out what you're hiding, Miss Stark."

"Can they?" asked Bella, turning around to face him. "In which case, why are we having this conversation? I assume that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s done their homework, looked me up. You wouldn't be asking me these questions if you could find the answer, could you? If you don't know the answers, it's because you can't find them, isn't it? I have no history anywhere, do I? I never existed until after Afghanistan, is that right?"

He said nothing for a moment. "You're right, Miss Stark," he admitted. "We have no proof of your existence until a few years ago."

"I thought so," said Bella. She took a broom and walked forward toward the broken glass.

"Miss Stark. I don't want to make this any harder than necessary. Where are you from?"

Bella paused. "I told you. I don't know. My memory of the first ten or so years of my life was erased. And I spent the last bit of it in a coma or something of that sort."

"Why were you with the Ten Rings?"

"It wasn't my choice. Like I said, it's complicated and I'd rather not discuss it."

Coulson stepped forward toward her. "I'm sure you haven't done anything wrong. But you have to think about this from our point of view. If Mr. Stark were unknowingly bring a member of the Ten Rings in here, to get their hands on his technology, it would be very bad. I'm not saying you are, I'm just asking that you see this from our point of view."

Bella sensed something move behind her. She dropped and rolled away, coming up next to the table with the new Iron Man armor. She grabbed the two repulsors off it, sliding them onto her hands and taking aim.

It was a man with a bow and arrows. He had an arrow aimed right in between Bella's eyes.

"I told you to stay _outside_," said Coulson.

"Well, Sir, I –"

"You're still not off the hook for what happened in Budapest. Don't push it, Barton."

"I thought you liked Tasha. Aren't you about happy about the fact she's still alive?"

"Get outside."

"Yes, Sir."

He climbed out the open window.

There was silence for a moment. "He was only supposed to watch," said Agent Coulson.

"Yes, I'm sure," said didn't remove the repulsors. They fit perfectly, strangely enough, but she would wonder about that later.

"We just need to talk to you, that's really all, Miss Stark."

The door swung open. It was Tony.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No!" said Bella.

"Yes, could you leave us for a while?" said Agent Coulson.

There was a short pause.

"Anything you have to say can be said with Tony in the room, can't it?" said Bella. She was sure a law must exist that said that for something like this, a minor's guardian had to be in the room.

But Tony wasn't legally in charge of her yet. And this wasn't officially _anything_ aside from a conversation.

"What are you doing, Coulson?" asked Tony after a moment.

Coulson seemed to realize this probably was not something he wanted to involve himself in at the moment and backed toward the door. He shot Bella a we-will-finish-this-conversation-later look and walked out.

"What was that about?" asked Tony.

Bella related the conversation.

Tony glanced toward the window.

"Bella… do you think you could figure out how to use an Iron Man suit? You've used simulations, right?"

She nodded.

"The blue and silver suit… it's yours. Take it, go out the window. I built it for you, just in case."

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"You built this for me," she repeated as she stood at the window.

"Yes. Like it?" Tony had hoped she would. Giving something like this to almost anyone her age would be a recipe for disaster. Izzy… if anyone in the world would use it responsibly, he didn't doubt it would be her. Besides, it wasn't armed.

"It's exactly what I would have wanted."

"I'll talk to Coulson. In the meantime, keep a low profile."

"As low a profile I can wearing a suit of armor and flying around in the sky, that is." Her voice was muffled through the helmet, but her accent was still recognizable.

"Yeah, something like that," said Tony. "Don't go getting it wrecked. It's a brand new suit."

"Got it."

"Don't stay anywhere for too long, don't tell anyone. Not even Pepper." Pepper was friends with Coulson. He didn't think she'd betray them or anything like that, but she might let something slip out by mistake.

The doorknob started to rattle. Coulson was staring through the glass at them, an expression of absolute shock on his face. "What are you _doing_ in there, Stark?!"

"Go," said Tony.

Bella nodded. "JARVIS, you there?"

"Yes, Miss Stark."

"Just get me out the window, then start giving me instructions, got it?"

The suit lifted, then flew out the window.

**Wow. I posted the last chapter, left for a few minutes, then came back and found two reviews in my inbox. Thank you, srosegarden and little firework. So, as a thank you, here is another chapter. Two chapters in a day… a record for me.**

**And no, Hawkeye's appearance was not just a random thing. He'll be making more appearances.**

**I may post the next chapter again today if I get another two or three reviews. Hint hint, readers.**


	10. Chapter 10

Bella had never moved so fast in her life as she did in the suit.

Once a safe distance from the building, over the ocean, she told JARVIS to stop and hover.

She almost panicked at the realization she was hovering just below the clouds who knew how many feet above the Pacific Ocean.

_This… is… amazing._

She knew she should get out of there – get as far away from Tony's house as possible. But she couldn't resist turning a row of flips in midair. She'd done simulations, but the simulation was nowhere _near_ as incredible as this.

Eventually, though, she directed herself toward land. It was just like the simulation. A lot of people below her looked up and pointed. That was _not_ keeping a low profile.

She flew until she was near Stark Industries, then landed on a rooftop. People might just assume that Tony was testing new armor. S.H.I.E.L.D. would know, but she didn't care. She just needed a minute to stop and think about everything that had happened.

She was not expecting their first appearance to be an arrow fired over the wall. She jumped up, but a head and shoulders were already emerging.

"Hi," said a familiar archer. "We didn't get introduced before. I'm Agent Clint Barton."

"Bella Stark," she replied, eyeing him warily. Where was everyone else? She didn't believe for a second he was alone.

He seemed to read her mind. "I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I said I was alone, would you? No one's going to attack unless you attack me first."

"What do you want, Agent Barton? I am _not_ working with the Ten Rings or anyone else, in case that's what your people think. It's not so much that I have a problem telling your people what they want to know, it's what they'll do when they find out."

"What do you think they'll do?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." She wasn't sure, but she had a pretty good guess. Either lock her in a jail cell, have her become a test subject, or put her to work. None of which really appealed to her.

"Nice suit," said Agent Barton.

"Tony thought I might need it. He was right, too." It was starting to get stiflingly hot. She pulled up the visor. A few curls came free and blew in the breeze. "Agent Barton. Have you ever done anything you regret?"

He nodded. "Hasn't everyone?"

"How about many things? So many of them? So many things you did, knowing it was wrong, but having nothing else you could do?" And then tell people who would hold it against her for the rest of her life? This was her chance to start over, to forget about everything she'd done before Afghanistan. To maybe find a way to begin to make it right. And no one was going to take that away from her. She doubted that S.H.I.E.L.D., upon finding out about her skills, would leave her alone about them. They'd want her to work for them. And then she'd be pulled back into that life again.

He looked at her for a moment, expression blank. Then he nodded, slowly. "How old are you, again?"

Bella had to think hard about it for a minute. "Fifteen."

"What did you do?"

"It's… complicated. Tony's the only person in the world, that I know of, at least, who knows even part of it." And she hadn't really told him everything she'd done. She'd just given him the major details. He hadn't pressed for details, and she hadn't yet offered them.

"If you want us to leave you alone – you do, right? If you want us to leave you alone, you have to give us a reason to."

Bella put down the visor of her helmet. "I can't tell you about it."

"Can't or won't?"

She considered a moment. She couldn't imagine telling the whole story to anyone aside from Tony, who knew only the basics. She _hadn't_ told him all the things she'd done in the years before she met him. "I'm not sure," she replied after a moment of consideration and stood up. She almost wanted to just tell them and have all this over with. But her talents weren't up for hire any more.

Something slammed into the ground next to her feet.

"Hey!" yelled Agent Barton. "I thought I said not to fire unless –"

Bella took off. They kept firing at her.

Something slammed into her suit. She yelled.

The next thing she was aware of, she was lying on her back in a pile of rubble. Had she gone through a building?

"Are you alright, Miss Stark?" It was Agent Barton, his bow clutched in one hand.

"It's not us," he said. "I don't know who it is, but –"

"Miss Stark, it seems to be a suit of armor similar to your own that is firing on you," interrupted the voice inside her suit.

She dodged another shot.

"Get out of here!" said Agent Barton.

"Mr. Stark has equipped the suit with the same capability for weapons as his own, however, he has not armed it, aside from repulsors, which would be important to flight and are also non-lethal," said JARVIS. "Taking Agent Barton's advice would be wise."

Something grey came charging at them through the hole in the wall. Bella raised a hand and fired her repulsor, dodging to the side at the same time.

"Get out of here!" yelled Agent Barton, then started yelling orders into his earpiece and firing off arrows, which exploded on the grey armor.

Something slammed into Bella, sending her flying backwards. Everything went black.

Bella woke up to darkness and the feeling of someone trying to pry her visor off. She tried to lift an arm to pull it off, but her arms refused to move.

"JARVIS?" she asked. "JARVIS?"

No answer. The inside of the mask was stiflingly hot. Could air get in if the systems were off?

The visor popped up.

Agent Barton's bruised face was above hers, staring down.

"What's going on?" asked Bella.

"Ivan Vanko."

"The man who attacked Tony in Monaco? He's dead."

"That's what I thought. But he's alive, and he just pulled out your arc reactor. You don't need it to live, do you? The way Stark does?"

"No."

He relaxed slightly. "Okay, good. One less thing to worry about."

How could Vanko be alive? His cell had exploded. He was dead.

"What are you doing here?" asked Bella.

"I don't know. He knocked me out and I woke up here."

Without the arc reactor providing energy, the suit was heavy. So heavy she couldn't move. She was trapped inside. Were Tony's suits this heavy?

Bella considered asking if he knew what Vanko wanted, then decided not to. She had a pretty good idea.

"We're getting out of here," said Bella. "I need a new arc reactor, then we can break out."

"What, are you going to build one? Even you could move and you knew how, there's nothing for you to do it with, unless you're Macgyver."

_Who on Earth is Macgyver? _Agent Barton was right, of course. Even though she knew how, she couldn't move. "I might not need a reactor. If I can just get moving, even for a little while... We're getting out of here. Vanko was after me. It's my fault that we're in this."

"Well, unless you know how to –"

He was cut off by the door swinging open. Bella had seen many pictures of the man in the doorway, had even seen him on television, but had never seen him in person.

"Hello, Stark," said Ivan Vanko. "We're going to call to your father."

**Thank you once again for all your lovely, lovely reviews and advice. Here are answers to the questions I have received.**

**No, Bella is not from the Red Room. She's from a program run by a bunch of people who wanted to get rich and decided that creating little girls with the mental capacity to create weapons and selling them off to the highest bidders was a good way.**

**I haven't decided on a name. I considered Iron Girl (as really the only idea I could come up with), but it doesn't seem particularly creative because there are probably many other people using it.**


	11. Chapter 11

Tony stared at the finished arc reactor in awe. He'd actually rediscovered a new element, and used it instead of palladium. After Coulson finished yelling at him for giving Izzy a suit and letting her go, of course. He'd never seen the agent angry before, and didn't particularly want to again.

He popped the palladium into his chest.

The phone rang. He picked it up. "Hello?"

"Tony?" It was Izzy.

"Hey Izzy. Where are you?"

"She's with me."

A chill ran down Tony's spine. "Vanko." He pulled the phone away from his ear slightly. "JARVIS, trace the call."

"I just thought you might want to know what happened to her," said Vanko. "So you won't worry about her." Then he hung up.

"Sir, call trace incomplete. And I cannot locate her. It seems power to her suit has been removed."

This couldn't be happening.

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Vanko pulled the phone away from Bella's mouth.

"What are you going to do now?"

The Russian didn't answer, but walked out of the room, laughing.

Bella had a feeling that, whatever his plan was, it probably involved hurting Tony. "I don't him very much," said Bella.

"Neither do I," said Agent Barton, who was handcuffed to the wall. "Well, any ideas on getting out of here? I'm a bit short on them."

Bella's gaze roved around the room. It was absolutely empty, except for the camera on the wall that monitored them. "If I could just restore a _little_ power to this..." _You're a genius, Bella. That's literally the only reason you exist, the reason you exist, to be a genius. _Think_._ "We need to get to the security camera. We'll have to do it quickly, because they'll see what we're doing. But I have a plan. I'm going to use the electricity that's supposed to be filling the camera to power the suit. The suit is designed to absorb the energy and use it as power. It's a built in feature in case of emergency. If Tony's arc reactor were to stop, he'd die, so he added this, just in case." She hadn't spent a great deal of time studying the Iron Man suit's design, but, from what she could remember, it seemed probable that her idea would work.

He stared at her.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," said Bella. "The suits are designed to be incredibly energy efficient, at least, this one is, and the electricity won't last long, but before anyone shows up I should be able to absorb enough for a few minutes. Can you get your hands free, do you think? I'll need you to drag me over to the corner with the camera quickly. After that, pull the camera out and follow my instructions."

He nodded, probably not interested in wasting time and figuring that, since she was proposing a plan as crazy as that, she probably had some idea what she was doing. Or, at least, since he didn't have any better ideas, hoping she had some idea. "Got it."

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"Coulson, you've got to have _something_!" Tony would never have imagined he'd be pleading with anyone from S.H.I.E.L.D. But here he was, pleading with Coulson for any information S.H.I.E.L.D. had.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but we have nothing," said Coulson.

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Bella hated just lying there on the floor. She tried to lift an arm. It was useless. Were Tony's suits this heavy? Then again, she was still recovering being in a coma and hadn't been particularly strong before that. That would have to change.

It _seemed_ to take Agent Barton an eternity to free himself. Of course, it wasn't an eternity, but it felt like it anyhow.

"Got it," said Barton. He ran to Bella and dragged her toward the corner, then pulled the camera out.

"Lift me onto my feet, you want me to be as close as possible to the camera." He obeyed, leaning her against the wall. "Okay," said Bella. "Blue wire. There. Put it into the hole were the reactor was, push it into the tiny hole in the center."

He obeyed.

"Okay, now the red wire. Put it and the wire next to it into the holes on the sides."

He grabbed the ends of the wires. Footsteps sounded in the hall. "Isn't there a chance I could electrocute you or something doing this?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, quite a good one. Push it in a little further, I don't think that's quite enough."

The doorknob started to rattle.

"Back in a minute." Barton set her face first against the wall, her forehead resting on the cold cement. The suit seemed to be vibrating as the electricity rushed through it. She lifted a hand carefully. It was difficult, but she was moving.

"All right," she said. "JARVIS, you there?"

Not enough power. Well, she was lucky for this much. In any case, there would be more guards coming soon, and they shouldn't wait. She yanked the wires out and turned.

Agent Barton stood in the doorway. Several guards lay around him. "Miss Stark? We should get moving. I'm not sure how many guards Hammer has."

"Hammer? As in _Justin_ Hammer?"

"Yes. They seem to be his." Agent Barton pulled a nametag off a guard's uniform.

"He's been helping Vanko… oh, great." That explained things. He'd probably broken Vanko out of jail and supplied him with what in needed to build the drones in some sort of attempt to embarrass Tony.

She followed Agent Barton into the hallway. "Which way?"

He considered for a moment. "Right seems as good a way as any."

"Well, let's go. I don't know how long the energy I put in here will last, don't think I should push it."

They took off at a run.

"If we find a phone, I can call Tony," said Bella.

Running footsteps sounded nearby and someone wearing a dark blue outfit slammed into Agent Barton, knocking him to the ground. Bella yelled and was about to attack when they both suddenly stood up, grinning.

"Natalie?" said Bella. "_What_? What are you –"

"Vanko's unleashed a lot of drones on Stark Expo. Miss Stark, where's your arc reactor?"

"Vanko took it. I need to get out of this suit or get it back."

Tony's driver appeared around the corner, panting. He stared at Bella in shock. "Miss _Stark_?"

"Yes, Happy, it's me." She addressed Natalie. "We need to find my arc reactor and call Tony to tell him I'm alive." Where would Vanko have put her arc reactor?

"Vanko's not here," said Natalie. "Hammer was building drones – don't know what he was planning on doing with them, but they're all at the Stark Expo, destroying it. The man who borrowed Tony's old suit is there too."

"Where's Vanko?"

"I don't know."

**Thank you all so very much for your suggestions on Bella's superhero name. I don't have one yet, but I'm working on it. It probably won't come up until much later, though, in any case.**

**As always, please read and review.**


	12. Chapter 12

"Would someone please explain to me what's going on?" asked Happy.

Bella pulled off her helmet, releasing her brown curls.

"I have to get this armor off if I can't get the arc reactor to power it. Otherwise, I'll get stuck in here again."

"And I need to find my bow," said Agent Barton.

"_Bow_?" said Happy. "What's going on? Why do you have an Iron Man suit, Miss Stark? And what are you _wearing_, Natalie?" he asked, indicating Natalie's S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform.

"Ivan Vanko is alive, and he's attacking Stark Expo with Hammer's drones," said Natalie. "Mr. Stark is attempting to hold them off. I'm Agent Natasha Romanoff from S.H.I.E.L.D, and this my partner, Agent Clint Barton. And Miss Stark's suit is a gift from Mr. Stark." Natalie turned back to Bella and Agent Barton. "Okay. Bow and arc reactor. Got it. He's probably got them in his workroom somewhere."

"And every second we spend not looking for it is time I don't have," said Bella. "Which work room, Natalie – sorry, I mean Agent Romanoff."

"This way."

Natalie – Natasha – led them to a small room with a computer.

"I'll check the desk," said Natalie. "Miss Stark, try the cabinets over there."

No amount of searching could locate the arc reactor. Bella's suit grew heavier and heavier. Why did the metal Tony used have to be so _heavy_?

"Agent Barton? Could you hook me up to a camera again?"

"_What_?" said Natalie.

"I'm not responsible if I electrocute you, okay?" He tore out a camera and started to hook her up.

"I'm not planning on holding you responsible."

A wire moved slightly in the wrong direction. Bella yelled. Agent Barton adjusted it quickly. "You okay?"

She took several deep breaths. "Yes, fine. Keep going."

He finished and walked away to join She stood in the corner, wires in her chest, waiting for it to charge up again.

"Stark?" Natalie was talking into the computer. "Hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

"Tony!" said Bella.

"Izzy!" exclaimed Tony. "You're okay? Did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine."

"_Izzy_?" echoed Agent Barton, grinning.

"What's going on?" she asked, ignoring the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "Vanko's got my arc reactor, I'm hooked into the electricity at Hammer Industries. Doesn't last long, but there's nothing else I can do."

"What's going on?"

"I'm just getting chased around by Rhodey."

"_What_?"

"Yeah. Vanko's got control of his suit. I came to the Expo because S.H.I.E.L.D. told me that was where they thought he was planning to strike. Vanko called S.H.I.E.L.D. just before I left Stark Expo to come here. Threatened to kill Barton if anything happened to stop his plans."

Natalie started typing on the computer. "Looks like he left after I arrived, probably knew it was his wisest option."

"Did it stop them?" asked Agent Barton. "S.H.I.E.L.D., I mean. Did they go ahead anyhow?"

Natalie didn't respond. Computer keys clattered.

Bella's suit felt much lighter now.

"JARVIS? Are you there?"

"Yes, Miss Stark."

She pulled the helmet on, then disconnected the wires. "I'm going to look for my reactor."

"I'll go with you," said Happy. "We don't know if the building's empty."

"If anyone is here, they're probably too scared to come out after seeing what I did," said Natalie.

On the way through the halls, they passed many unconscious guards. Natalie's handwork, Bella guessed, and mentally made a note to never make the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent angry.

Several times, they had to stop and recharge Bella's suit. But their search yielded nothing.

"Think he took it with him?" asked Bella.

"Wouldn't be surprised."

Then Bella had an idea. "Back to the workroom, I have an idea." She took off running, the suit growing heavier with each step.

Once there, Bella went to the worktable and started to go through it again.

"What are you doing?" asked Agent Barton.

"Looking for pieces."

"What, are you going to build an arc reactor?"

Bella pulled out the wreckage of a frame of one and started twisting it back into shape, thankful for the strength given to her by the suit, even with its low level of power. She found bits and pieces that looked like they were new – Vanko had probably smashed her arc reactor. That was okay. She was going to get a new one.

"I figured he'd have parts of one left. It's not something you do perfectly the first couple times. You're going to have to scrap some of your work because you simply can't get it perfect. This one doesn't have to be perfect or pretty, just has to work."

She started pulling out broken pieces and fitting them together.

"How is that even going to hold together? You're not fastening anything."

"Marvelous stuff, tape," said Bella, picking up a roll of it from the desk. "The reactor doesn't have _last_. It just needs to hold together for a few hours."

"How did you learn to do this?" asked Barton.

"I helped build the first one," replied Bella, taping two wires together. "I figured Vanko would have some pieces somewhere that didn't work out the first time, judging from my own experience, but that could be put together into something that would work, at least for a little while."

She put tape over the top to hold it together, then stuffed it into the hole in her chest. She whacked it with her fist a few times to get it in all the way.

"That feels about right. It probably can't cope with sustained flight, but it should work."

Natalie, Happy, and Agent Barton were all staring at her. It was only then that Bella realized exactly what she'd just said and done.

But she wasn't going to think about it. Instead, she was going to get something done. "I'm going to help stop Vanko," she said. "JARVIS, are you still there? Please put me through to Tony."

There was a small beeping sound.

Barton looked puzzled. "Miss Stark, what are you –"

"Tony? What's going on?"

"Trying to stop the drones while being chased by Rhodey."

"I'm on my way." She jumped into the air, bursting through the ceiling and up into the night air.

**Does anyone think Bella's solutions to her missing arc reactor are at all unrealistic? Just checking.**

******I am going to wait for three reviews before I post the next chapter. I'm open to advice, or comments, or just your opinion of the story (I especially like hearing people's honest opinions of my stories)**. Unless, of course, all you have to say is that you hate my story, for one reason or another, and do not bother to present a decent reason why. Even if a story's not very good, there _**is**_** a polite way to tell someone so.  
**


	13. Chapter 13

"Tony, I'm at Stark Expo. What do you want me to do?"

"I _want _you to go home and stay there. But you wouldn't, would you?" He sighed. "Destroy all the drones you can and get people out."

"And try to get people away from us!" added Rhodey.

"Got it."

Bella flew over Stark Expo. Things were exploding everywhere and people were running around, screaming. She dropped down onto the cement and fired her repulsors at a nearby drone, sending it crashing through a wall.

Bella had been in these sorts of situations. Before she'd been in a coma. Working for terrorists tended to get a person into dangerous situations. Only then she'd been on the wrong side, with nothing to protect herself. This time, she had a suit of armor to protect her.

She dodged under a shot from another drone and scrambled to her feet, firing at the drone.

"Tony? Do you know where Vanko is?"

"No."

A flash of red and gold went by, followed by grey. Then something started to fire at Bella.

"Hey!" yelled Bella.

The grey thing stopped midair, then went after her.

"Uh oh," said Bella, dodging a shot.

She flew behind a building. "Tony, any ideas?"

"Keep him moving, try to crash him into something. That won't kill him, but it might stop him."

"No, it won't," said a Russian voice.

"Vanko," whispered Bella.

"Stark, if you want your friend to stop targeting your daughter, go to the glass dome in the middle of the Expo. I'll be waiting."

"Why would we believe you?" asked Bella.

"Do you have any other choice?"

Red and gold flashed Bella, heading for the glass dome.

"No!" yelled Bella. "Even if the arc reactor is killing you –"

"It isn't any more. I fixed it."

"_What_?" said Bella and Rhodey at the same time.

"Rhodey, you're not responsible for any of this. If it wasn't you, it would be a drone or something. Izzy, if I die, Pepper's your guardian. Destroy the Iron Man suits except for yours, I don't want them falling into the wrong hands. Promise me that?"

"Yes."

Bella suddenly spun and fired a hard round into Rhodey, just enough to slow him down, not enough to actually do any real damage to anywhere that could hurt him.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "But I can't let Tony face him alone."

"It's okay. Just go stop Vanko."

Bella dodged and fired again. Her thoughts raced. Tony wasn't going to fix his arc reactor just in time to get killed. She fired again, and Rhodey went down.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little banged up, can't fly any more. I hope."

Bella took off toward the glass dome.

She crashed through a hole in the glass to find Iron Man and Vanko in combat, splashing around in the middle of a stream, surrounded by grass and trees. Bella fired at his head.

A whip wrapped around her body, pulling her in.

"No!" yelled Tony.

She screamed in pain as the power ran through her body. _This would have been useful at Hammer Industries_. Then, suddenly, she flew through the air and hit the ground, landing behind some trees. She lay there for a moment, the wind knocked out of her. If she hadn't been wearing the suit, the landing would have been enough to break several bones at very least. What had this dome been? Never mind, it was a fighting ring now.

Bella climbed to her feet, ignoring the pain, and slipping around through the trees, up to a high point.

The whip shot back and coiled around her, pulling her forward, sending her flying through the glass.

Everything went black.

Bella woke up what she guessed to be about only seconds later. The screen in front of her eyes blurred and went fuzzy for a moment, then came into focus. She sat up slowly and carefully. She had been blown out of the dome, but could see through the hole she'd made in the glass. Tony and Vanko were fighting, with Vanko gaining the upper hand.

She flew forward through the hole, slamming into Vanko and knocking him to the ground.

Yet another time, the whip wrapped around her.

All the shots Tony and Bella fired seemed to have no effect. Another whip came out, wrapping around Tony's suit.

Bella's makeshift arc reactor started releasing sparks. Her body felt as if it were on fire. She opened fire again, ignoring JARVIS's voice advising her to be careful, she might drain her arc reactor. None of her shots had any effect.

"I win. You lose," said Vanko.

"Izzy!" said Tony. "Charge up a shot!"

Bella obeyed, the shot glowing white hot. Tony did the same.

"Fire at my shot!" he yelled.

It took Bella a split second to figure out what he meant, then she fired at the glowing light on his hand. He fired in that exact moment, and their shots collided.

The resulting explosion sent them both flying back, free of the energy whips. Bella bounced off a rock ledge and lay there for several moments, dazed.

"Izzy!?"

Bella sat up. "Did we get him?"

She stood and ran over to the man in the armor. He was alive, grinning at them, but clearly in no condition to continue the fight. Tony came to stand next to her.

"Could never have done is without you, Izzy," said Tony. "Thanks."

"You're too late anyhow," said Vanko. A red light started blinking on his chest.

"Bomb," said Tony. "Get out of here!"

Bella took off through the glass ceiling. All over the Expo, red lights blinked from drones. Fortunately, it looked as if everyone had been evacuated. Except for…

"Oh, no. Pepper!" said Tony. He dove down toward a lone figure standing at the entrance to one of the buildings, grabbing it and flying back up again.

The explosions began.

Tony and Pepper streaked past Bella, landing on a rooftop. Bella flew toward them, then heard Pepper's voice.

Tony's former assistant sounded like she'd had just about as much as she could take for one night. "I never know whether you're going to kill yourself or – or wreck the whole company or –"

"Hey, I think I did okay!" protested Tony.

Bella decided to leave them alone. She landed in a parking lot a few miles away. She sat down on the edge of the curb.

"It's over," she told herself, staring up into the dark sky. "We won."

Footsteps sounded on the cement. Bella looked up to see Agent Coulson standing in front of her. On all sides, armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents emerged.

"Well, Miss Stark," said Coulson. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

**Seven reviews on my last chapter. Thank you, readers, for all your lovely feedback and your lovely comments.**


	14. Chapter 14

Bella kept her gaze on the smooth, dark brown surface of the table.

"So," said Agent Coulson, from his place across from her. "What you're telling me is that someone created a program that produced expert weapons makers before they turned seven."

"That's the highly simplified version, but yes, Sir. Basically, that's it." Bella had told them everything. They would never have given up until they did, and it simply seemed pointless to try to hide it any longer.

"And _that_ is what you were doing in Afghanistan? Designing weapons for the Ten Rings?"

Bella nodded. She couldn't look up. Couldn't bring herself to see the expression on his face, what he must be thinking about her. "Yes, Sir."

"You said they erased your memory in this program. How do you remember it, then?"

"I don't. News of a program like that just gets around. Most of what I've told you is just what I've managed to piece together. They implanted the information in our heads, then altered our minds to give us mental capacity surpassing the average adult human, particularly the areas that affect memory and reasoning. Then they erased our memories of all the procedures and knowledge of the program."

Bella was starting to get annoyed. She had been dragged off by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to a S.H.I.E.L.D. base. There, she had been locked up for what she estimated to be at least twelve hours. At the twelve hour mark, she'd fallen asleep and had been awoken for this. She wasn't completely sure about the proper procedures for this sort of thing, but she was reasonably sure a minor's parent or guardian should, at the very least, be notified of what was going on, which Bella doubted had occurred – otherwise, Tony would probably be there already.

"We've heard rumors, of course," said Coulson. "But we didn't actually think it there was anything to them."

"And now you do?"

He said nothing, but instead stood.

"So, what happens now?" Someone was, no doubt, trying to figure out all the ways this organization could use her. Did anyone _really _think she was going to go back to that life quietly and without a fight? If anyone did, they were wrong.

"Have you called Tony yet?"

He didn't respond.

"I'll take that as a no." He stood up and walked toward the door. "What are you planning?" Still no response. "Agent Coulson. I may be fifteen, but I'm smarter than that. I will _never _consent for building weapons for your organization, or any other."

"Who said anything about that, Miss Stark?"

"Please. Just don't. I know organizations like yours, I've worked for enough of them. Sir, short of mind control, there is absolutely nothing you could do to convince me to work for you. Even if you tried to force me, you need Tony's permission for me to work for you, as my parent. I doubt he'd give it if I didn't agree."

"Miss Stark, you could help people by doing it."

"I don't doubt that your organization has the world's best interest in mind. But the world has enough weapons, Agent Coulson. I see no reason to build more. Tony's Iron Man suits shouldn't be distributed to the world at large. If he'd given them to the government, that would have happened eventually. Someone would have gotten their hands on it who shouldn't have it. The same would happen with anything I designed for you. And then we'd need more designs. We're trapped in a race that can only end in disaster, with everyone coming up with weapons, trying to create something better everyone else. I see no reason to get us to the finish line any more quickly than I already have."

Coulson looked at her for a moment. His cell phone rang. "Excuse me, I have to take this." He stepped outside.

000000000

Tony was starting to get frustrated.

Izzy had vanished mysteriously after Stark Expo had been destroyed. He had immediately ruled out Vanko as being responsible. Vanko was, at long last, well and truly dead. The next idea he'd come up with was Justin Hammer. Hammer, however, denied having anything to do with it, and there was no evidence of his involvement.

"She couldn't have vanished off the face of the earth," said Tony to himself. "Her suit doesn't go into space." That gave him an idea, but he brushed it aside. _Later_. He closed his cell phone after yet another call to someone couldn't help him.

Both he and Pepper had exhausted nearly every source available. The only place he could think of to contact was S.H.I.E.L.D., and he didn't like asking them for favors. The night before had been an emergency, because of Vanko. He supposed now could be considered an emergency too.

"Hey, Boss," said Happy, walking into the room. "Did you know Miss Stark knows how to assemble an arc reactor?"

"What? How do you know about that?"

"Because she assembled one from spare parts and duct tape last night. And did you know Natalie's a secret agent?"

Something clicked in Tony's mind. "Wait a second. Did Natalie see Izzy assemble that arc reactor?"

"Yes."

"Yes to both your questions, Happy. Long story which I should explain to you and Pepper at some point. First, though, I have to make a phone call."

Tony stood up and left. Once he was alone, he dialed Coulson's number.

"Hello, this is Phil Coulson," said an answering voice.

"Coulson? Would you know what happened to Izzy?"

There was a short silence.

"Agent Coulson. Do you know where my daughter is? Is she at a S.H.I.E.L.D. base?"

There was another short silence. "Stark, all we did –"

"_Why _was I not told about this? You want me to join your super secret boy band, and yet you bring my daughter to a S.H.I.E.L.D. base for questioning without even telling me first?"

"Stark, we needed to make sure she wasn't a threat."

Tony took several deep breaths, as Pepper would have advised him to do. "Coulson, do you _really_ think I would have adopted her without being satisfied that she wasn't working for the Ten Rings or anyone else?"

More silence.

"I sincerely doubt she'd agree to work for S.H.I.E.L.D., if that's what you're hoping."

"I guessed."

"I'll be waiting outside at the doughnut shop the director and Natalie met me and Izzy at yesterday." Had it been yesterday? It felt like ages ago. "Three hours. Bring Izzy. And her suit." He hung up.

000000000

Tony sat in the ring of the doughnut, waiting. In full armor, just in case. Two minutes before they were due to show up with Izzy. They'd better show up. Tony understood why they would want to talk to Izzy about her past. But they were not going to just take her to some base of theirs to question her without at least telling him first.

A car pulled into the parking lot. Tony recognized Agent Romanoff in the driver's seat. In the back sat Izzy. Tony breathed a sigh of relief.

The car pulled to a stop. Tony jumped down from his perch and walked across to the car. Izzy climbed out the back. He wrapped both arms around her in a hug for a moment. Izzy had always been good at hiding her emotions, but he could tell she'd been shaken badly by the experience.

Izzy and he removed the Iron Man suit from the back seat, loaded it into the back of his own car, and left in silence.

**I'm not sure if I'm 100% pleased with this chapter… your thoughts?**

**Let's see if I can get four or five reviews before the next chapter goes up.**


	15. Chapter 15

"How'd your meeting go?" asked Bella, stepping forward to meet Tony, as he'd insisted she call him, as he stepped through the front door.

"Well, long story short, they want me as a consultant for the Avengers Initiative, not a member. I agreed on two conditions. One, that they find a presenter when for Rhodey and I are honored in Washington. Two, that they don't bother you anymore."

"Thank you, Tony."

"Fury actually gave me an apology for what happened. Said that they just wanted to make sure you weren't up to anything before calling me, and then, when you told them, some of the scientists there started stalling things because they wanted to run a few tests and knew they wouldn't be able to because I'd be there as soon as I found out. There were other things too, but I think you get the picture."

Bella didn't completely believe all of that, and judging from his tone, Tony didn't seem to either.

"They sent me with a letter for you. I assume it's of apologies and pleas for you to come work for them." He handed her an envelope. "Do you actually want to read it? You know what's going to be in there anyhow, and we could go make those modifications on your suit that you've been asking about."

Ever since her time at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Bella had wanted to modify the suit into a suitcase, so it could be transported more easily, and could be available to her at all times. She couldn't simply ignore whatever they had to say, though. She sighed. "Might as well take a look."

She opened it.

It was, indeed, full of apologies and pleas for her to come work for S.H.I.E.L.D., offering to train her as an agent if she wanted it. They even suggested that she might be entered as a reserve member of the Avengers Initiative, at some point in the future, now that she had a suit of armor similar to Tony's. Bella studied it for a moment, then set it down on the nearest table and sighed.

"They don't take no for an answer, do they?" she asked.

Later on in the day, she found herself sitting on the roof, out of the suit. The view of the ocean was simply unbeatable.

Footsteps sounded behind her.

Bella spun around. It was Agent Barton.

"Oh. It's you," she said. "I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. agreed to leave me alone."

"They did. _I_ didn't, though."

Bella groaned inwardly. If it was one more request from them for her to come work for them and build weapons… "Did you need something?"

"I wanted to watch the sunset, and this place has as good a view as any. That and I wanted to see you to see how you were doing after what happened, since I'm leaving soon."

He was right about the sunset. This was the best view of the sunset Bella had ever had in her life. "I'm doing fine, thank you for asking. And please tell me S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't ask you to come up here and offer me work yet another time. I have no interest in it."

"Don't worry, they didn't, they probably don't even know I'm here. Quite a secret you were hiding. I understand why you didn't want tell us though, though. It's not something that should get around."

Bella stiffened. "Who told you?"

"No one. I figured it out on my own. It wasn't hard to do, to be honest. Once you told us you'd helped build the arc reactor, well, there _are_ only so many teenaged girls out there who'd be able to pull it off. You're from one of those programs where they program information into kids' brains and sell them off. We've heard rumors, but no believed them. We'd never found any real proof – much less anyone from the programs – until now."

"Who else knows?"

"As few people as possible. That was a part of Stark's deal, that it didn't get around to anyone who didn't absolutely need to know. Or know about it already. He shouldn't have worried about it. It's not as if we'd be spreading the news. Like I said, it's not something that should get around."

"Did you know about S.H.I.E.L.D. bringing me in? Why didn't they tell Tony about it?" Bella knew the reason Tony had been given, but wondered if Agent Barton might have a different one.

"Yes, I did know. And they didn't call because Director Fury said not to. If you were some sort of terrorist, S.H.I.E.L.D wanted minimal interference from Stark. How is Mr. Stark? His new arc reactor working fine?"

Bella supposed their decision did make sense, although she didn't agree with it. If she had been a terrorist, Tony might still have tried to keep her out of trouble, and just made things more difficult. That reason still wasn't good enough to excuse it, but she understood why they might decide that it would be better to keep him out of it. "Yes, as far as we can tell, the reactor is no longer poisoning him. He's stopped his crazy stunts, for the most part. And he's dating Pepper now."

"Pepper?"

"Miss Potts. She's back to being his personal assistant now."

There was more silence.

"So, you have an Iron Man suit. Have you picked out some kind of superhero name?"

Bella shook her head. "I'm _not_ a hero, Agent Barton. I spent my life building weapons for people who didn't exactly use them for good causes. Just a person didn't pull the trigger themselves doesn't mean they're not responsible. I knew what the people were going to do with them, knew it was wrong." A hero was supposed to someone people can look up to. Bella certainly wouldn't want anyone imitating her. "I designed a missile for a terrorist group when I was nine. Before they got rid of me a few months later, they had killed hundreds of people with it – some of them no older than I was at the time." Somehow, it was easier to tell him than she would have expected. Maybe because she'd already shared some of it with S.H.I.E.L.D. Or maybe because, aside from Tony, he was the closest thing she had to a friend. She and Tony never talked about her past. "That's just one case out of hundreds in my life. And I didn't refuse to stop."

"Which would have gotten you killed, right?"

"Better I die than all those people. You said you were leaving?" said Bella.

Barton looked a little surprised at the abrupt change in subject, but seemed to sense she didn't want to discuss her life any further. "Yeah. I've been reassigned, along with Coulson," said Agent Barton. "I figured I'd come to say goodbye before I left, they want me in – oh, can't tell you where, sorry."

"Is this a case of 'I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you'?"

He chuckled. "Something like that, yeah."

"Have fun in New Mexico."

He walked to the edge of the roof. "See you."

"Goodbye."

He jumped off the edge of the roof.

Bella yelped and ran to the edge.

As he fell, he fired an arrow into a nearby building and swung away, waving with the hand that wasn't holding the rope that was extending from the arrow.

She waved for a moment, then headed downstairs. Tony would be wondering where she was, and she had work to do on her suit.

**And so, we reach the end of **_**Iron Man 2**_**. Up next: **_**The Avengers**_**. And, after that (hopefully) **_**Iron Man 3**_**. And after that, who knows?**

**Oh, and for those of you who enjoy my work, may I suggest checking out my newest story **_**We Don't Belong Here**_**.**


	16. Chapter 16

Bella had to admit, turning her knowledge to clean energy had certainly paid off. Stark Tower was amazing.

Pepper was standing by one of the holographic screens. Bella had opted for staying and helping her rather than going out to help Tony. She would just been in the way.

Bella sat on one of the couches, watching. Nothing much needed to be done now, just wait.

"Light her up," said Tony.

Pepper pressed a button on the screen. Bella got up and walked over.

"How's it look?" asked Pepper.

"Like Christmas, but with more me."

"We did it!" squealed Bella. No matter how many times she created something that worked, it was still exciting, every single time.

"We've got to go bigger on the public awareness," said Pepper. "I'm taking the jet to DC tomorrow."

"Pepper, you're killing me in the moment. Remember? _Live_ in the moment?"

"Get in here and I will."

He appeared a moment later through the door leading outside.

"Levels are holding steady… I think."

"Of course they are, I was directly involved," said Tony. "And, of course, Izzy, too. Which brings me to my next point, how does feel to be a genius?"

"Well, now, I wouldn't really know now, would I?"

"What do you mean? All of this –" he gestured around to the room – "came from you."

"No, all of this came from that." She smiled and tapped his arc reactor. "And you," she added, looking at Bella.

"Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself some credit. Ten, twelve per cent."

Pepper's smile vanished. "Twelve per cent."

"An argument can be made for fifteen."

"Twelve per cent of my baby?"

"Well, I did do the heavy lifting – literally, I lifted the heavy objects, me and Izzy – and the security snafu? That was on you. My private elevator, it was teaming with sweaty workmen."

They walked over to the couches.

"I'm going to pay for that remark about percentages later in some subtle way, aren't I?" asked Tony as he sat down.

"Not going to be that subtle," said Pepper.

Tony's phone rang.

"Mr. Stark, we need to talk." It was Agent Coulson's voice.

Tony picked up his phone. "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message."

Bella clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. Pepper, too, was grinning.

"This is urgent."

"Then leave it urgently."

The elevator doors opened. Agent Coulson stood there, holding his cell phone to his ear and something under his arm.

"Phil!" exclaimed Pepper.

Bella and Tony exchanged glances. "Phil? Why is he Phil?" asked Tony. "Uh, his first name is Agent," he added, addressing Pepper.

Bella shrugged and followed Pepper over to the elevator.

"Come in! We're celebrating," she said.

"Which is why he can't stay," said Tony.

Coulson handed the object under his arm to Tony. "We need you to look this over as soon as possible."

"I don't like being handed things," said Tony.

"Which is fine, because I love to be handed things," said Pepper, taking it from him and handing it to Tony.

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," said Tony.

"This isn't a consultation," said Agent Coulson.

"Is this about the Avengers?" asked Pepper. "Which I know nothing about."

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped," said Tony. "And I thought I didn't even qualify."

Bella got up and headed in his direction.

"I didn't know that either," said Pepper.

"Apparently, I'm volatile? Self obsessed? Don't play well with others?"

"That I did know," said Pepper.

"What is it?" asked Bella, turning to walk toward Tony.

"Miss Stark?" said Coulson.

"Agent Coulson?"

"I need to talk to you. Now. Without anyone else listening." He glanced at Tony, but Tony was too occupied to have heard.

"Outside," said Bella, gesturing to the door which led to the place where Tony landed.

He followed her onto the strip. It was cold outside and many, many stories above the ground. "We need your father to help track something. And we want your help."

"Track what?"

"The Tesseract. We had it… until yesterday."

"What?!" Bella almost yelled. "How did you lose it?!"

"What? Do you know what it is? Did Barton tell you?"

"No, no. Of course not. Barton doesn't tell me about what he's doing for you." Bella had worked in a HYDRA lab once and found some files about the Tesseract. "I found out… before I met Tony. How on Earth did you _lose_ a glowing cube of energy… oh, no. Oh, no. Please tell me that someone just misplaced it and that no one… oh, no."

"It was stolen yesterday. We want you and your father's help tracking it."

"Someone broke in and stole it. And now he's mind controlling Agent Barton."

Bella's mind couldn't process any of that for a moment. "What?"

"I can't explain everything."

"Okay." Bella was used to not knowing everything. The people she'd worked for before meeting Tony were generally very tight lipped. "Why couldn't this be said in front of Tony?"

"It's not him, it explained about that in what we gave him. It's Miss Potts I didn't want to hear about it. You know how it is."

Bella had never thought she'd find herself working for S.H.I.E.L.D. But that cube had enough power to destroy the planet. Besides, she'd been responsible for a lot of things that harmed the world. Maybe, somehow, this would be a way to start making up for them. "I'll help you. But don't think this means anything. I won't develop weapons for you or work for you. I'm doing this because of the Tesseract - and Agent Barton."


	17. Chapter 17

Bella slept at Stark Tower that night. Or rather, lay in bed all night, trying to fall asleep. She was too worried about everything. She got up at three o' clock and went for a glass of water, but otherwise lay in bed until eight the next morning and started to make breakfast for herself and Tony. Tony had been up late looking at whatever Agent Coulson had given him.

She walked into the kitchen and started mixing up batter for pancakes. She had never been the best world's best cook, but Pepper been teaching her a bit.

Tony got up at twelve.

"Good morning," said Bella as he came into the kitchen.

"Bells? How can you be so cheerful at this time of the morning?" he asked. He looked like he was still waking up.

"Tony, it's afternoon now."

Of the many things Tony Stark was, a morning person was not one of them.

"I made breakfast," she offered, setting a plate of pancakes in the middle of the table.

"Thanks. Coulson told you about Agent Barton to get you to agree, didn't he? Did you ever see him after what happened at Stark Expo?"

Bella nodded. He'd visited several times while everyone else was out, and they'd often sparred together.

"Are you _sure_ you want to do this?"

"Yes."

"Can I leave you alone here this afternoon? There's some things I have to do."

Bella put the syrup on the table. "Sure."

"Okay," said Tony. "Take your suit, Bells. You never know. That was the only reason I agreed to let you go – Coulson said you could bring it."

"Yes."

"I'm going to be there, but still, don't let it out of your sight."

Bella put a plate in front of him. "Wasn't planning on it. What S.H.I.E.L.D. doing with the Tesseract? Clean energy?"

"Apparently."

Bella put a few pancakes on her own plate and sat down next to Tony.

"Bells? If you see _anything _suspicious – if you think they might be trying something with you – get out of there. Fast."

"Don't worry, I have no intention of being anyone's puppet again."

"Good."

Tony ate and left.

Bella spent the afternoon trying to locate Agent Barton using what was available to her.

She knew if S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't find him, she wouldn't be able to, but it felt right to at least try.

At one point, she fell asleep on the couch.

She woke up to the awareness of someone sitting in the chair across from her.

She opened her eyes and jumped.

"Hello, Miss Stark."

"Agent Barton!?" she yelped. She forgot everything – about him being under mind control, about someone stealing the Tesseract, about being worried – and asked the first question that came to mind. "How on _Earth_ did you get up here without alerting JARVIS?"

Her friend just smiled. "You look like you didn't sleep very well last night."

Bella guessed he wasn't going to answer her question. "I didn't." _I was too worried about you_.

Agent Barton wore sunglasses and a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. A quiver of arrows rested next to the chair, half full.

"What are you doing here?" _Act normal. You don't know he's under mind control_.

"I was in New York. Thought I'd stop in, say hi. How's Stark Tower?"

_Or do you want me for something? _She stood up and walked over to the computer screens. "Levels still holding steady, so good. So, where were you last?"

"New Mexico."

As if he'd ever tell her that.

Should she wait? See what he did? Or attack? Her suit leaned against the wall in suitcase form. He must be able to tell she was nervous. What should she say? She stayed by the computer screens – at least she'd have a bit of warning if he tried to attack her.

"I'm not here just for a social visit," said Agent Barton, standing up and walking toward her. "S.H.I.E.L.D. needs you."

Bella's heart started thudding against her ribs. "I've no doubt they'd like my services, but I'm not going to work for them. I've told you that." She stepped backwards, away from him.

"I wasn't asking." He grabbed her arm.

"Agent Coulson was here last night. I know what happened. I'm not interested in helping whoever you work for." She pulled free and ran over to her suit. A hand closed on her elbow, but she grabbed the suitcase and swung it into him.

He released her.

"JARVIS, call Tony! Or S.H.I.E.L.D.! Or… someone!" she yelled.

"At once, Miss Stark." His voice was annoyingly calm.

She darted toward the kitchen. If she got into it, she could lock the door and get into her suit.

She swung the door open and slammed it behind her, locking it.

"JARVIS?"

"Both Mr. Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. have been informed of what is happening."

She pulled the suit on.

In the exact moment the visor of the helmet came down, the door was knocked down.

"Get out of here!" yelled Bella. She fired a knockout dart at Agent Barton, but he dodged.

He aimed an arrow, but she flew forward, slamming into him and knocking him to the ground. She tried to hit him in the head, to knock him out, but he got to his feet again and ran. Bella aimed to fire again, but he ran onto the thin landing strip where she had talked with Coulson the night before. He leaped off the edge.

"No!" yelled Bella, running out after him.

She couldn't see him anywhere.

Red and gold flashed in the corner of her eye.

"Mr. Stark is here."

Tony came smashing down next to Bella. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine. We have to find him!"

He nodded.

No search of the surrounding area, even with the help of several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, yielded the agent or any sign of him.

Whoever had Barton, Bella promised herself, was going to pay for it.

**Happy April Fool's day. Even if I didn't pull any...**

**I'll wait for four reviews until the next chapter goes up.**


	18. Chapter 18

Bella had never been on the helicarrier before. She had to admit it, the place was impressive.

"You're going to like this," promised Agent Romanoff as they headed down the hall to Wishbone Lab. "We've got all the toys."

"The only thing I'd like is to know what happened to Agent Barton."

"An alien who calls himself Loki is somehow controlling his mind," replied Natasha. "An alien who wants to take over the planet."

Like the aliens from all the science fiction movies she'd seen people watching while she was working for a certain organization that wanted to build weapons to defend against attack from extra terrestrials. That had been an interesting few months of Bella's life. Those people had been, as far as she was concerned, completely insane. She had been very thankful when she'd finally been sent elsewhere.

"How original an idea," she remarked.

"Yeah, it does sound a little cliché," admitted Agent Romanoff. "This way, Miss Stark."

She stepped inside the lab to find a man already there.

"Hi, who's this?" asked the man.

"Hello, Dr. Banner. This is Bella Stark. Miss Stark, this is Dr. Bruce Banner."

The name was familiar, but she wasn't sure where from.

"Miss Stark. Is your father here?"

"No," she replied. "He's on his way to Germany, to find Loki, they spotted him there."

"Miss Stark will be helping you with locating the Tesseract," said Natasha.

"So, Dr. Banner, you work with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"No. They called me in. Have you done anything with gamma radiation in the past?"

"A bit, yes. Some people were trying to unlock super solder serum using gamma. It doesn't work very well."

Dr. Banner made a small choking sound.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Was your dad involved in that project?"

"No. It was… before he adopted me." Shortly before she'd been sent to Afghanistan, she had been "rented out" to someone who was attempting to replicate the Hulk, a former scientist who, as a result of experimentation, turned into a green monster if his heart rate went up too high. She had later – after she'd woken up from her coma – learned that her work had been key in creating something similar to the Hulk. More awful things Bella was responsible for.

"What have you done with gamma, Dr. Banner?" she asked.

"I tried the same thing you did, actually. Among other things. My experiments didn't really work, so I've gone from place to place since. I was in India just recently, as a doctor. Do you know how it all this equipment works?"

Bella nodded, noticing the quick change of topic but not commenting. "Tony has plenty of advanced equipment like this. What have you done so far?"

000000000

"So, how are things are S.H.I.E.L.D., Izzy?" asked Tony. He flew over the water. Loki was supposed to be in Germany, he had to get there at once.

"Good. We're tracking the cube and it seems to be going smoothly. No appearances from Agent Barton – as much as I like him, I can't say I'm sad about that."

Bells was good at hiding her thoughts and emotions, but he could tell she was upset over the whole thing.

"We'll get him back, Izzy. You know we will."

"I hope so. So, Loki's been spotted in Germany and you're going?"

"Yeah. I wonder, though, why Germany?"

"I guess you'll find out."

"I hope so. Met anyone interesting?"

"I'm working with a Dr. Bruce Banner. He's quite nice."

Tony made a small choking sound. Dr. Bruce Banner? As in, the Br. Bruce Banner who turned into a green monster if a person made him too angry? The Dr. Bruce Banner who had destroyed Harlem in New York? S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't told Izzy about that?

"Are you alright?" asked Izzy.

"Yes," said Tony. "Just… do you know who that is?"

"No. Should I?"

"Dr. Bruce Banner is the Hulk. Destroyed a part of New York a year or so ago, along with other places."

Bells released a squeak.

"Just don't do anything to set him off," added Tony quickly. He was going to have a long talk with Coulson when he saw him next.

"Why didn't they tell me?"

Probably because they thought she'd refuse to work with him."Just don't do anything to set him off," said Tony. "Or, if you're planning on it, at least wait for me to get there first."

The sound of shock left Izzy's voice. "Tony? Really? Why on _Earth _would you want to do that?" She didn't sound at all surprised that he wanted to see it happen.

He'd like to see the Hulk up close and personal. Why not? He'd be protected by his suit, and all he'd seen so far of the Hulk was footage of when it had destroyed part of New York. "Why not?" he asked.

"Because you could get killed."

"You can get killed crossing the street."

"Yes, but the chances of being killed in proximity to the Hulk and the chances of being killed crossing the street are very different, the chances of the first being lethal being exponentially higher than the other."

He laughed. "I think you worry a bit much."

"No, I've got Pepper to do most of the worrying about you for me, and I still do it nearly twenty four hours a day. Pepper… she's in Washington, right?"

"Right."

He'd been meaning to ask Izzy something for a while. Was now a good time…

"What do you think about Pepper?"

"Pepper? As what? As your assistant? As your girl friend? What? Are you planning on proposing?"

Well, might as well drop that bombshell now. "I might be."

Izzy squealed. Tony instinctively clapped both his hands over his ears, but it did no good because he was wearing the Iron Man suit.

"You're going to propose to Pepper?" Her voice was a little softer now.

"I was… considering it. After all this is over. I wanted to know what you thought, since Pepper would be your mother."

Izzy spoke slowly. "I think that… I've been expecting it for months."

"Dreading or anticipating?"

"Would I be this excited if it was dread? You're perfect for each other."

Meaning Pepper was probably the only woman in on the planet who'd be willing to put up with him for even a month, let alone for the rest of her life.


	19. Chapter 19

_We've done it_.

Tony stared at Loki, sitting restrained on one of the seats of the quinjet.

He would never have believed that they could defeat Loki – not, of course, that he'd admit it. And Loki just surrendering? Something was very wrong with that.

"How's Izzy?" Tony called to the front of the quinjet. Agent Romanoff was the pilot.

"Your daughter is fine."

"So, she didn't accidently trigger the Hulk? You know, you'd think that would be something worth just, you know, mentioning to her. So she didn't accidently make him mad. Or to _me_, being her father and all."

Agent Romanoff didn't say anything.

"Have you met her yet?" Tony asked, turning to Captain America. "Izzy, I mean."

"Miss Stark? I passed by in the hall a few times. I don't think she saw me though, she was too busy."

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Loki started to look very nervous.

"What, scared of a little lightning?" asked the captain.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," replied the alien.

000000000

"It's an impressive cage," said the man on the screen. "Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," said Director Fury.

Bella leaned closer to the screen, over Agent Romanoff's shoulder.

"Oh, I've heard," said Loki. "A mindless beast who makes play he's still a man."

Bella glanced over at Dr. Banner, who didn't appear too bothered. It seemed so strange that such a quiet man could turn into a green monster if he got angry.

"How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" said Director Fury. "You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh. It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power – unlimited power, and for what? A warm light for all mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is."

Director Fury walked away. "Well, let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something."

There was a long silence.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" said Dr. Banner.

"Loki's going to drag this out," said Captain America. Bella had heard about him being there and being alive, but hadn't really paid much attention – in her life, she'd seen stranger things, and she hadn't even really known who he was before that, except for hearing years ago he was responsible for HYDRA's destruction. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

Bella's attention jerked to the blond newcomer wearing the Norse armor. No one had said a word about him yet. _Thor? As in the god of thunder from Norse mythology? Well, if Loki's real…_It was becoming difficult to surprise Bella after the last day or two.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead the against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army, from outer space?" repeated Cap.

"So he's building another portal," said Dr. Banner. "That's what he needs Eric Selvig for."

"Selvig?" said Thor.

"He's an astrophysicist," said Bella. "He was working on the Tesseract project."

"He's a friend," said Thor.

"Loki has them under some kind of spell – along with one of ours," said Agent Romanoff.

Bella and Agent Romanoff exchanged glances. Where was Barton now?

"I want to know why Loki let us take him," said Cap. "He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki, that guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him," said Dr. Banner.

"Have a care how you speak," said Thor. "Loki may be beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," said the Black Widow.

"… He's adopted," said Thor.

There was a short silence.

"I think it's about the mechanics," said Dr. Banner, breaking the silence. "Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent," said a familiar voice.

Bella's head turned toward the voice. "Tony!" she greeted.

"Hey, Izzy. The stabilizing agent means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did on S.H.I.E.L.D." He walked toward them and addressed Thor. "No hard feelings, Point Break, you've got a mean swing." He turned back to the table. "Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants."

Tony walked over to a set of screens where Director Fury usually stood.

"Uh, raise the mizzenmast. Ship the topsails," he said.

Everyone on the bridge turned to stare at him for a moment, then went back to work.

"How does Fury even see these?" asked Tony, covering one eye and

"He turns," replied a female agent standing nearby.

"Sounds exhausting." He turned back to the group gathered around the table. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily," he continued. "Only major component he still needs is a power source – of high energy density. Something to kick start the Cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear physics?" asked Agent Hill.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers – am I the only one who did the reading? Aside from you, Izzy."

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" asked Captain America.

"He's have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," sad Dr. Banner.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the Quantum Tunnelling effect," said Tony.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally. Someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?" asked the captain.

Tony and Dr. Banner shook hands. "It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner," said Tony. "Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"…Thanks," said Dr. Banner.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," said Director Fury. "I was hoping you might join him."

"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon," said the captain.

"Actually, Captain," said Bella, "it does work on the same principles as a HYDRA weapon. HYDRA weapons were powered by the Tesseract, as is Loki's spear. We are still not completely sure how the mind control part works. However, judging by what I have seen, magic is definitely not involved in anyway."

"How do you know how HYDRA weapons work?" asked the captain. "Did S.H.I.E.L.D. give you information on them?"

Bella had studied them thoroughly while "employed" by a small group that had carried on HYDRA's work. But she didn't exactly want to confess that to anyone just yet, especially to someone who had just finished fighting HYDRA. Well, technically it had been seventy years ago, but to him it was probably closer to a few months, if not less. Coulson had filled her in on all of that.

"And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys," said the director.

Bella had never been so grateful to anyone in her life.

"Monkeys?" said Thor. "I do not understand –"

"I do! I understood that reference," said the captain.

Bella hadn't, but after seeing everyone else's reactions, she decided not to say so.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" said Tony.

"This way, Sir."


	20. Chapter 20

"The Gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract," said Dr. Banner, working busily, scanning the scepter. "But it's going to take weeks to process."

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the homework cluster we can clock this at around six hundred teraflops," said Tony, busy on some equipment he'd brought from his own lab.

"All I packed was a toothbrush," said Dr. Banner with a laugh.

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower some time. Top ten floors- all R and D. You'd love it, it's a candy land."

"Thanks but – last time I was in New York I kind of – broke – Harlem."

"Well, we promise a stress free environment," offered Bella, who was finding Dr. Banner pleasant to work with. "No tension, no surprises."

Tony suddenly zapped Dr. Banner in the side with something.

"Ow!" said Dr. Banner.

"Tony? What are you _doing_?" demanded Bella. Had he just zapped _the Hulk_ in the side? Was he _trying_ to get everyone killed?

Tony stared hard at him, ignoring her. "Nothing? That's all?"

"Hey!" said Captain America, who had just stepped through the door. "Are you nuts?"

"Jury's out," said Tony.

"Is everything a joke to you?"

"Funny things are."

"Tony, you're endangering everyone here," said Bella. "It's not funny. Er, no offense, Dr. Banner."

"None taken. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," said the captain.

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now, why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"Do you trust him, Captain?" asked Bella. She honestly didn't know whether she should or not.

He hesitated.

"Captain, he's a spy," said Tony. "He's _the_ spy. His secrets have secrets." Apparently, he was not dealing with any of Bella's indecision. "It's bugging him, too, isn't it?" Tony nodded toward Dr. Banner.

"Doctor?" asked the captain.

"I… I just want to finish my work and…"

"You're with me on this one, right, Izzy?" said Tony.

"Yes. A few things just don't seem quite right about this whole thing. What's S.H.I.E.L.D. doing in the energy business? Doesn't seem like something involve themselves in, does it? And why didn't they call Tony in sooner?"

"I should probably look into that, as soon as my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files," said Tony.

"I'm sorry, did you just say – ?" said the captain.

"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" He offered the other man a small bag of them.

"Forget what I said about them not calling Tony in," said Bella. "Tony, I have to agree with the captain on this one."

"You call your dad Tony?" said the captain.

"Oh, come on, Izzy. An intelligence organization that _fears_ intelligence?" said Tony, before Bella could answer the question. "Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," said Cap. "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

"Again, I'm with the captain," said Bella.

"Following's not really my style," said Tony.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Out of all the people in this room, who is, A) wearing a spangly outfit, and B) not of use?"

"Just find the Cube," said the captain, and left.

"Guy's not wrong about Loki," said Dr. Banner. "He does have the jump on us."

What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit," said Tony. "It's going to blow up in his face, and I'm going to be there when it does."

"I'll read all about it," said Dr. Banner, who was busy on a computer screen.

"Mhm, or, you'll be suiting up with the rest of us."

"Now, you see, I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve, it's a nightmare."

"You know, I've got a cluster shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. This – stops it –" Mr. Stark tapped the arc reactor in his chest. "This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible… privilege."

"But you can control it," said Dr. Banner.

"Because I learned how." Tony walked over to the computer and stood on the other side of the screen.

"It's different," said Dr. Banner.

Tony cleared the screen from the other side. "Hey, I read all about your accident. That much Gamma exposure – should've killed you."

"So you're saying that the Hulk – the Other Guy – saved my life? That's nice. That's a nice sentiment. Saved it for – what?"

"Guess we'll find out."

"You may not enjoy that."

"And you just might."

"You can use things that are bad and turn them into good," said Bella. "Do you know where I gained my intelligence from? I was created in a program that made me into a weapons designer. That's all they put in my head. The knowledge to design and create weapons. And to learn more. They also enhanced my ability to learn and reason, in order to keep up with new discoveries. My IQ… I don't even know if it's it possible to have one so high without being mentally enhanced. I designed weapons because it was all I knew how to, and did it well. But then I was put into a situation where I could use my knowledge for good. I helped design the first Iron Man suit to help Tony escape from terrorists while we were in Afghanistan. There's a place in this world for everything, a good use for everything – including enormous green rage monsters."

**For those of you who might have thought it odd that, in the last chapter, Bella didn't recognize the **_**Wizard of Oz**_** reference, remember she didn't grow up in an environment where she would have seen a lot of movies, and I don't think she would have gone out of her way to see the **_**Wizard of Oz**_** after that.**

**And yes, Molly Grace 16, Loki will be doing his fair share of messing with her, starting in a chapter or two. And I must say, thank you for reviewing every chapter. Reviews make my day.**


	21. Chapter 21

Bella ran a scanner over Loki's staff again.

"Definitely powered by the Tesseract," she said. "It's amazing, isn't it? Beyond anything I could design."

"If you couldn't design it, that says a lot," said Tony. He was going through what he'd hacked from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computer systems. "Well, this is all interesting. They've put a lot of work into tracking your various places of employment, Izzy. I'll need to have a talk with Fury about this, they were supposed to leave you alone. Apparently they wanted you to help them on something called Phase Two. Did Barton ever mention it?"

Bella shook her head. "What is it?"

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" demanded the director, striding in.

"Kinda been wondering the same about thing about you, Nick."

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"And we are," said Bella. "The computer's just searching for it now, Director. When it's done, we'll have the location with half a mile."

"What is Phase Two?" asked Tony.

There was a loud thud. Bella spun around to see Captain Rogers standing next to a HYDRA weapon he'd just slammed onto the table.

"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract," said the director. "This does not mean we're –"

"I'm sorry, Nick," said Mr. Stark, turning a computer screen towards Fury. "What were you lying?"

On the screen were plans for a missile, powered by the Tesseract.

"I was wrong. The world hasn't changed a bit," said Cap.

"Did you know about this?" Dr. Banner asked, addressing the Black Widow, who had just entered the room, along with Thor.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"

"I was in Calcutta, I think I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what, exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy," said Dr. Banner. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of him," said Director Fury, pointing at Thor.

Me?" repeated the Asgardian.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town," said Director Fury. "We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out-gunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," said Thor.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

"Nuclear deterrent. Because that always calms things right down," said Tony.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" said Fury.

Bella glared at Fury. "Director, he may have made money that way, but he has turned his back on that and is trying to mend his mistakes."

"You speak of control, and yet you court chaos," said Thor.

"It's his MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team?" said Dr. Banner. "No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're not a team, we're a time bomb."

"You need to step away," said Director Fury.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" asked Mr. Stark.

"You know why! Back off!" said Cap.

"I'm starting to want you to make me."

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you? I've seen the footage," said Cap. "The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire."

"Always a way out. You know, you may all be a threat, but you'd better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero. Like you? You're a laboratory experiment. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."

Thor laughed. "You people are so petty. And tiny."

"Yes, this is a team," muttered Bella. The Avengers Initiative, a group meant to be the heroes that could fight the battles normal people never could… arguing like children.

"Are you boys really all that naïve? S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats," said the Black Widow.

"And Captain America is on that list?" asked Bella.

"We all are. You too, Miss Stark."

"I would be rather surprised if I wasn't."

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his –" began Director Fury.

Dr. Banner cut him off. "Where? You rented my room."

The director seemed to realize whatever he was trying to do was a lost cause. "Miss Stark? I need to talk to you. Outside."

Tony was too busy arguing to notice the two leaving. The door shut behind them. Coulson was waiting there as well.

"Director Fury, Agent Coulson," she said, assuming they wanted a report on how work was going. Old habits kicked in from before she'd met Tony. "Our search for the Tesseract is going as fast as possible, as I stated before, we simply need to –"

"That's not why I wanted to talk to you," said Fury. "I want you to interrogate Loki."

Bella couldn't believe her ears for a moment.

"Excuse me, Sir?"

"Someone needs to interrogate Loki," said Coulson. "He'll be expecting an agent, someone to try to trick his secrets out of him. He probably wouldn't believe that we'd send you. He'll probably know about your connection to Agent Barton and believe that you're trying to deal with him in order to get your friend back. He might not be as careful."

"You want to help, don't you?" said the director.

Bella was still in shock. "Director, Agent Coulson… I – I came to track the Tesseract. I didn't come to interrogate prisoners. I'm not... there must dozens of people here who would be better qualified for anything of that sort than I am."

"I considered Agent Romanoff, but he'll be very careful around any S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. You, on the other hand, he'll think you're just desperate. You could help us find Agent Barton again."

Bella knew she was being manipulated. She was used to the feeling. But if it really would help them find Barton… "Alright, Director. I'll do it. What do you want me to do?"


	22. Chapter 22

Bella trembled. She couldn't help it.

"You're in no danger, Miss Stark," promised Coulson as they approached the cell. "Loki can't get at you. She's with me," he said to the guard who stepped forward to stop her.

She'd been afraid before, in more dangerous situations. She'd managed to get through those without this. Why was this so terrifying?

They stopped just inside the doorway. "This is where I leave you," said Agent Coulson. "Good luck."

Bella swallowed hard and climbed up the last steps toward the cell. A round, glass cell, that would be dropped out of the helicarrier if Loki tried to escape it. The alien stood with his back to her.

"Ah, Miss Stark," he said. Bella jumped slightly as he turned to face her. "Co-designer of Stark's suit. You seem to have inherited his intelligence. A shame you didn't receive any of his appearance – it would be an improvement."

Bella kept her face impassive. Whatever the insult about her looks was supposed to mean, she didn't care – she honestly didn't care. "I'm not particularly concerned about my physical appearance. Besides, I'm adopted."

"Ah, right. Barton told me. He's why you're here, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's right… sorry, what do you want me to call you?"

"King or Milord would be acceptable. So, why are you here? To bargain for Barton's life? Or maybe his freedom?"

"Good, I'll call you Loki then. What did you do to Agent Barton?"

"I'd say I've expanded his mind."

"It didn't really sound like that to me."

"Well, who told you what happened? Fury? You don't trust him."

"My thoughts on the director are not relevant to this conversation." Especially since he was almost certainly watching. "Once you're done – what happens to Barton's mind?"

"You were friends."

"Yes. I owe him a favor for getting me out of Hammer Industries last year."

"Oh, I know. He told me everything. About your past."

Bella swallowed hard. "What about my past?"

"Everything. You designed a missile for a terrorist group when you were nine. Before they got rid of you, they had killed hundreds of people with it – many no older than you at the time."

"I fail to see what this has to do with –"

"By the time you'd turned eleven, you had worked for no less than seven different organizations and governments. None of them with the betterment of humanity in mind. Or at least, what you humans feel is betterment."

Bella said nothing.

"Your work has cost_ thousands_ their lives. And you think that you can ever make up for it? You think you can ever do enough to ever compensate for it?"

000000000

Tony and Bruce stepped onto the bridge.

"What are you doing out here, Mr. Stark?" asked Fury.

"Where's Bella? It's been an hour."

"_I... I don't know!_"

It was Bella's voice, coming out of the same place where they had watched Loki in his cell.

Tony dashed over to where Agent Romanoff was trying to block his view and shoved her out of the way.

Bella stood in front of Loki's cell, facing him. Her face was white and her hands shook.

"_I don't know if I can! I didn't... it was a mistake! I didn't have a choice!"_

"You had as much choice as Agent Romanoff. But your ledger is redder than hers."

Loki's voice was triumphant.

"_You can't prove I did any of that. Neither can S.H.I.E.L.D."_

"_S.H.I.E.L.D. has uncovered much of your work. Barton told me about it. And even if they hadn't, your guilt lies where it matter. In your heart. You know what you've done, every single act. You try to compensate for it, try to fix things – but you can't. You never can."_

A roar filled Tony's ears. He turned slowly toward the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Fury, what's going on?"

Dr. Banner beat a hasty retreat.

The director didn't seem certain of how to respond for a moment.

"You know what," said Tony, "right now I don't care. I'm just going to get her out of there."

000000000

"You never can," repeated Loki. "You think working for S.H.I.E.L.D. will help you? You don't really _believe_ it, do you? You don't trust the director, he's keeping secrets, isn't he?"

Bella flinched as if physically struck. Somehow, each word hurt more than a physical blow. She stood next to the glass, he inches away, eyes meeting.

"You think me a monster? I'm not the only one here."

She turned away. She couldn't take his gaze any longer. His intense, blue gaze. She gripped the rail next to her, trying to keep herself from turning and running.

His fist slammed against the glass. "Don't worry about Barton, I won't touch him. That is, not until he's killed you, slowly, in every painful way he knows to use, and then I'll let him awake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams I'll kill him."

The door swung open.

"Izzy, _get out of there_!" yelled Tony.

Bella ran toward the voice, barely seeing where she was going, not caring, just wanting to get away.

A pair of arms wrapped around her, pulling her away from the door. It slid shut.

She started to cry. Tears stung her eyes, rolled down her cheeks.

"Banner, she left her suit in there," said Tony's voice from near her ear. "Could you…"

"Sure."

Footsteps sounded, walking away.

Tony said nothing. Somehow, Bella was thankful for that. She didn't want to be told that everything was alright. When it wasn't. It wasn't alright in the least.

Bella tried to stop crying, but simply couldn't. Sobs shook her body. "He knew everything. Things he couldn't have known without…" Even Tony didn't know about the missile she'd designed. Only Barton had known about it. Tony and her never discussed her past, but Barton had asked her about it. And she'd trusted him enough to tell him.

"I'm going to have a long talk with Fury," said Tony.


	23. Chapter 23

**Does anyone know when the _Thor 2 _trailer is coming out? I can't seem to find a date... anyhow, back to Bella and Tony and Tony being ticked off with Nick Fury.**

"What were you doing?!" yelled Tony. "You have no right to have my daughter do _anything_ for you without my permission!"

Fury shrugged and turned back to his screens. "She was the best choice."

"You don't seem to understand me," said Tony. "Do you know what you did? Do you realize exactly what you just did to her?"

Everyone on the bridge was staring at them again. Izzy sat in one of the chairs at the table, eyes big, arms wrapped around herself, still shaking, tears still staining her face. Sitting next to her on one side was Agent Romanoff, on the other, Capsicle.

Fury turned to him. "Miss Stark agreed of her own free will."

Tony'd had enough of this. "That's not the point. You've made one thing very clear, Fury. What might happen to that girl as a result of anything you do does not concern you in the least. You put her in a room with a man who turns into a green rage monster and you did not warn her – nor did you tell me you were doing it. And now this. I gave permission for her to work for you because I trusted that you wouldn't do something like this. Izzy?"

Her gaze directed toward him.

"Get your suit out of the lab, that's where Banner left it. You're going to meet up with Pepper in D.C."

"But what about –"

"Do as you're told!"

He instantly regretted snapping at her, but she didn't seem to realize that he had raised his voice. She nodded and stood up, walking back in the direction of the lab. Agent Romanoff followed.

"I'm staying here only because we need to stop Loki," said Tony, returning his attention to Fury. "Don't think I'll forget about any of this."

000000000

Bella dragged herself into the lab.

"Miss Stark," said Dr. Banner.

She picked up the blue suitcase.

"Your dad angry with the director?"

"Oh, yes," she replied.

"He shouldn't have used you like that."

"I'm fine. I was just upset earlier."

He said nothing.

One of the computers beeped.

"We got the Tesseract's location," he announced.

"Where is it?" asked Agent Romanoff.

Something rolled into the floor. It exploded. And Bella was falling. Her head slammed into something and everything went black.

The next thing she was aware of was something pinning her legs. She looked up at the hole in what had been the floor and was now the ceiling. Light poured through.

She pulled her legs free. Where was her suit? It would be in the room above. Or in the rubble.

She spotted the blue suitcase in trapped under the beam that her legs had been under and started to tug on it, trying to pull it free.

It came loose suddenly and she tumbled over backwards.

She activated it and pulled it on. Loki was behind this, he had to be. And she was going to stop him if she could.

She ran directly to Loki's cell, stopping in the doorway at the sight of what was happening.

The door was opening and Loki was stepping out of the round, glass cell.

Bella fired her repulsors. Loki flew backwards back into the cell. Bella stepped forward through the open door.

And then Loki vanished and the door slid shut behind her.

Bella spun around to see Loki standing by the glass, grinning at her.

Loki laughed. "Should have known you'd come. For someone who trembles like a leaf when there's no real threat, you're quite brave."

"So you're saying you're not a threat?" asked Bella.

He laughed. "It's too bad Barton couldn't retrieve you. He spoke highly of your intelligence."

Retrieve... it made Bella sound like an object. Like she had been before she went to live with Tony.

"And what makes you think I'd _ever_ agree to help you? You called me a monster just today. And it would make me more of one than to provide help for you. What makes you want this so badly?"

"I would be a great leader. You humans slaughter each other in droves – and who would know that better than you?" said Loki.

Bella flinched inwardly, then snorted. "And you'd do better?"

"Well, there would be no other rulers to fight with."

"You really think you can do a better job than anyone before you?"

"Well, yes."

Bella sighed. "But there lies the problem. Everyone thinks they can do a better job. They're all wrong. You think war would end with your rule? You'd just be another leader until someone else came along. There will always be war. I'm not a monster." Bella's volume started to increase. "I was a pawn, and that's all. Working for those people – it wasn't me."

"Wasn't it you, though?"

"I had some time to think, while Tony was yelling at Director Fury. I used to think it was me. I used to think I was responsible. But what a person does when they're forced – do you think that defines them, Loki? No. It's what they do when they have a choice. That's the difference between you and me. You're doing everything of your own free will! I didn't. Just like what you're doing with Agent Barton. You're using him as a tool, who doesn't any choice in the matter. We're the same in that. Just as I don't hold him responsible for his actions, I don't hold myself responsible anymore."

And then Bella noticed who was standing behind him.

"Agent... Barton?" she said.

"Miss Stark. It's good to see you again."

Bella felt sick.

"You and your father think you're invincible, don't you?" said Loki. "With your suits of iron."

"Actually, it's a gold titanium alloy," said Bella. She'd always thought it strange that, although he was known as Iron Man, the suits contained no iron. Still, 'Gold Titanium Alloy Man' simply didn't the same ring.

Agent Barton chuckled, walking up to the edge of the glass cell. Loki walked toward the controls that would drop her down toward the ground.

Bella walked toward the edge of the glass. He stared at her for a moment with his icy blue eyes. For a moment, they flickered blue grey, then he shook his head and they were blue again.

"You are dismissed to your other duties, Agent Barton," said Loki.

Barton pulled away, gaze lingering on Bella for a moment, then walked away.


	24. Chapter 24

Loki grinned at Bella, walking toward the controls that would drop her out of the helicarrier to almost certain death. "You and your father both think yourselves invincible, don't you? Should we test that?"

Bella's mind whirled. She had to stall him, somehow.

"You're going to lose."

"Am I?"

"Director Fury is assembling a team."

"A team that could never cooperate with each other long enough to accomplish anything."

Bella had to admit he had a point.

"Move away please," said a voice suddenly.

Coulson, holding one of the largest guns Bella had ever seen – and that was saying something – stood near the entrance, aiming at Loki.

"You like it?" said Coulson as Loki took a few steps back. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you want to find out?"

Loki disappeared for a moment, then appeared behind Coulson and stabbed him with his spear.

Bella shrieked.

Loki pulled the blade out. Coulson collapsed against the wall.

The alien walked over to the controls and pressed a button.

And then the cage was falling.

Bella screamed. Below her, far below her, was the ground.

"Izzy!" yelled Tony's voice. "Where are you? What's wrong?"

Bella couldn't answer. The suit wasn't going to protect her here.

She dropped against one wall of the glass cage and propelled herself forward, hoping to break the glass, but ended up slamming into the roof.

She only had a few seconds now. She was falling toward the ground. Below her were trees and grass – at least no one else would get hurt. Bella took a deep breath and shot forward, straight through the glass.

The cage hit the ground behind her. Bits of debris showered down.

And then she was skidding along her stomach through the grass and dirt. Finally, she came to a stop. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Bella lay there for a while, in pain. Physical and emotional pain. Physical because she'd just skidded at least a hundred yards belly down through dirt and grass. Emotional because she'd just seen Coulson murdered trying to help her. Why? It seemed so pointless.

She became fully aware of her surroundings again to someone rolling her onto her back.

"Miss Stark?" said a voice. "Are you alright?"

Who was it and why did they know who she – oh, right. A lot of people knew who she was.

Bella sat upright as the screens came back online. She flipped up the visor to get a good look at the speaker. The sunlight was blinding.

It was a woman with brown hair.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you," said Bella, pulling herself slowly to her feet. She winced as pain shot through her kneecap.

"You fell out of the sky. Did your suit stop working or something?"

"No." Bella winced. She guessed she'd broken a few ribs. Those hurt. A lot. "It's… complicated."

"And probably classified, right?"

"What?"

"Tony and Isabel Stark don't just vanish off the face of the planet for a couple days without people noticing. And Jane suddenly got called away, and an alien claiming to be a Norse god showed up in Germany. This has S.H.I.E.L.D. written all over it."

"How do you know about S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Bella pulled herself carefully to her feet.

"I was an assistant to someone whose work they… 'borrowed'."

Bella guessed what the woman meant.

"Where am I?"

"You're on the Atlantic Coast, near New York City."

"Izzy, can you hear me?" said Tony's voice inside her helmet.

"Excuse me," said Bella to the woman. "Yes, Tony, I'm here."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "JARVIS just told me your systems were back online. Are you okay?"

"I'm alive. A couple broken ribs, damaged knee, and I'm probably black and blue all over. I skidded across the ground on my stomach for a quite a while."

"Sounds painful."

"It was."

On the other end, there was sounds of shooting.

"What's going on? Where are you?"

"Ah… about that. Loki's in New York, and we're busy trying to defeat his army of aliens."

"_What_?" yelped Bella. "How long has it been?"

"About seven hours."

How on _Earth_ could she have been lying there so long?

"I'm on my way," said Bella.

"No! Izzy, you go back to the helicarrier. I won't have you getting killed."

Bella turned off the external speakers so the woman couldn't hear their conversation. "I'd rather be dead than have Loki ruling the world."

"No one's asking you to die. We can do that without you getting hurt."

"Tony, you're asking me to sit by while that _lunatic_ tries to take over my planet and has Barton as his personal flying monkey," she said.

"Actually, Agent Romanoff used cognitive recalibration to get Barton back. Here, let me put him through. Hey, Barton, it's Izzy!"

"Miss Stark, good to hear you're alive," said Barton.

It was so good to hear his voice. "I'm pretty happy about it too, yes. How's it going in New York?"

"As well as can be expected."

"Could you use some help?"

"It wouldn't hurt," said Hawkeye.

"_No_," said Tony. "We're doing fine."

"I'm on my way."

"Izzy –"

She slipped the helmet off. "Thank you, Ms…"

"Darcy, Darcy Lewis."

"Thank you for your help, Ms. Lewis. I have to go now."

Coulson's death wouldn't be for nothing. Bella wouldn't let it. She slipped the helmet back on and took off.


	25. Chapter 25

Tony burst through the Leviathan and slammed into a phone booth. He stood up, only to be fired on by more Chitauri.

Dark blue and silver cut the sky.

"Izzy!" he yelled into the helmet.

"Stark, you know all of us have to listen, right? That hurts," said Cap. "Miss Stark? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help. I can't just sit and watch, Tony, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

"Get out of here!"

Izzy dropped down next to him. "I'm sorry, Tony. But I didn't fly all the way here just to leave." She fired her repulsors at a Chitauri.

She wasn't going to leave, no matter what he said or did. "You're _so _grounded after this."

Izzy didn't respond, but instead dodged a shot from an alien and blew backwards through a wall.

"Yes, well, if we don't win this, it won't really matter anyhow, will it?"

Such a pleasant reminder of what was at stake.

He fired at another Chitauri that had a weapon aimed at Capsicle.

000000000

The battle had been well underway when she had arrived, and, with her appearance, the Chitauri had started thinning out. But Bella was already exhausted and in pain, and her armor, amazing as it was, couldn't fix broken ribs. And she wasn't in perfect shape, either. She had never been very strong – something she was working hard to fix, but it was slow going.

Bella fired at another Chitauri. The things just kept coming.

She normally liked having just repulsors. They were like a shield, rather than like a weapon. Less chance of anyone getting hurt.

Right now, though, she wanted some guns, too.

A Chitauri fired his weapon at her again. She dodged and sent him back through a wall.

So was what war was like. She'd spent her whole contributing to it, and now she was finally experiencing it.

It only made her regret it more.

They couldn't keep this up. Bella knew it. Everyone knew it, though no one admitted it out loud.

A car suddenly drove past, a Chitauri hanging onto the back, the occupants screaming.

Bella dove after it, grabbing onto the Chitauri and pulling it off. The car skidded to a halt in front of her as she grappled with the creature.

"Go!" she yelled. "Get out of here!"

Something stabbed into the front of her helmet and the alien got off her and ran for the car.

Bella reacted before she knew what she was doing. She jumped up, dropping between the car and the alien.

More of them surrounded the vehicle. Apparently, they had identified Bella as a threat. _Well, so they're not completely dumb._

Guns couldn't take care of all the creatures, not fast enough, not before they could get to the people in the car.

"JARVIS, put everything I've got into the repulsors," she ordered. "I've got a plan," she added, and related the details.

"Yes, Miss Stark."

"Get down!" she yelled to the occupants of the car – a family, a mother and father and two boys about her age. She jumped onto the roof and activated the repulsors, spinning in a circle as she did so, moving so fast she created a shield – a silver shield, keeping away the Chitauri, sending them flying backwards in buildings and far, far away.

After a moment, she stopped, breathing heavily for a moment. Her broken ribs screamed in pain.

One of the boys got out of the car.

"Are you alright?" asked Bella.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You're Bella Stark."

"Yes," she replied, flipping up her visor. "That I am. Sir, you need to get out of here," she said, addressing his father.

"You're a superhero," said the boy.

_No, I'm not_. Despite Loki inadvertently helping her to deal with some of her issues, she still didn't consider herself a hero. A hero wouldn't do any of the things she had, given choice or not.

She brushed the thought aside. All that could wait until after the battle.

But while she was thinking about it, she'd have to pick out a name for herself before the media did it for her after the invasion. They'd given Tony his, though, granted, it was actually a pretty good one.

But that could wait. There were aliens to kill first.

That sounded like something from a science fiction movie or one of the video games she occasionally played with Tony. Not something she should say and actually mean. _What went wrong?_

"You should get off the streets, find somewhere to hide," advised Bella, and gave them directions to a spot she'd heard the captain send several people.

"What are you going to do?" asked the boy.

"I'm going to help. It's what I do." What she did now. Now she – along with the rest of the team, were like a shield, protecting people from Loki's army of aliens. She supposed that was what superheroes were. A shield, between humanity and threats like Loki and the Chitauri.

She took off again.

"Nice move with the repulsors there," said Agent Barton. "Was worried there for a minute, though."

"Yes, well, I seem to be hard to kill." She winced, realizing how that must sound when Loki had dropped her out of the helicarrier with Barton standing by, watching. She didn't know what or how much or how well he remembered his time working for Loki, and didn't want to remind him about it.

She flew past Stark Tower – only the "A" remained from the word "Stark" on the building –and past Hawkeye, who was positioned on a rooftop and waved as she streaked past him. She dropped down in between Agent Romanoff and Captain Rogers, firing.

"Anything to report?" asked the captain.

"No. Same as it's been for the last while. Something has to change for us to win this, and it had better be soon."


	26. Chapter 26

Bella fired at another Chitauri. "These things just keep coming!"

"Yes, yes they do. We've got to close that portal," said Agent Romanoff. "It's coming from on top of Stark Tower. "He was using the arc reactor to power it."

"Got it," said Bella, taking off toward the tower. "Anything else we know for sure that could help me out?"

"It's powered by the Tesseract," supplied Agent Barton, "and surrounded by a barrier of pure energy."

"Thanks," said Bella, and landed on the rooftop.

What she wouldn't give to study the portal technology. But it would be better if it was simply destroyed. In the middle was the glowing blue Tesseract. "So this is what it's all about," she said.

"Miss Stark?" said a voice.

Bella spun around. It was a man, pulling himself up off the roof.

"Who are you?" asked Bella.

"Erik Selvig."

"Oh, right. Thor mentioned you once."

His eyes were not a glowing, icy blue – no longer under Loki's control.

"Yes, I'm Bella Stark. You designed this?"

He nodded.

"It's quite something, I'd love to take a good look at this later. But do you know how to shut it down?"

He nodded. "I built something in to stop it. Loki's scepter. You can't protect against yourself, and the scepter is powered on the Tesseract."

"Where is it?"

"Down there." He pointed down toward the landing strip Tony had put in for their suits.

Bella jumped down and retrieved it, then returned.

"I can close it! Can anyone hear me? I can close the portal!"

"No, wait!" said Tony.

Bella looked toward the portal. More Chitauri poured out.

"Stark, these things are still coming!" said Cap.

"I got a nuke coming in. It's going to blow in less than three minutes. And I know just where to put it."

Bella's heart skipped a beat as she realized what he meant. "What?"

"Izzy… tell Pepper. Tell her what I told you about…"

"Tony, you can't! Your suit can't have enough power, let me do it!"

"And let you get stuck in space? I'm your father. Do as I say."

Tony had _never_ said that before, as far as Bella could remember.

"Tony, please don't!"

"Izzy… I'm sorry. JARVIS, freeze it."

The suit suddenly went still. She could see out it and hear everyone, but couldn't move.

"I'm sorry, Bella. Destroy the suits, all of them except yours. I don't want them falling into the wrong hands. Destroy everything you can."

"Please, don't. I'll do it, just please don't."

Bella knew she couldn't move, but she tried to anyhow. Knowing Tony wouldn't listen, she turned her attention to the AI. "JARVIS, please unfreeze me. Please…"

"Mr. Stark has the final word, Miss."

Red and gold shot past the tower, up and into the portal. And Tony was gone. She couldn't follow him into space.

Bella's suit unfroze. She didn't go after him. Instead, she sank to the ground, burying her face in her metal hands.

"Tony? Can you hear me?"

Silence.

But it didn't mean he was dead, it just meant he got bad reception in space… he couldn't be dead. Tony couldn't be dead.

"Close it," ordered Cap.

"_What_?" squeaked Bella.

"Close it."

Bella hesitated.

"Do it!" It was an order that Bella couldn't ignore.

She pushed the spear into the portal. And the last of her hope along with it.

There was an awful moment after she did, watching the portal and every hope of ever seeing Tony again disappear.

And then, at the last moment, a red and gold speck fell through.

Bella instinctively jumped up and flew toward him, catching him in midair.

"Tony, are you okay?"

No response. He was completely limp.

Bella flew down to the ground, landing in front of Cap and Thor. She pulled the helmet off, throwing it to the side.

Tony's eyes were closed. His face was still.

"No," whispered Bella.

Then the Hulk roared.

Bella jumped.

Tony yelled. "Whoa! Whoa! What just happened?"

"We won," said Cap.

"Hey, alright! You know what, let's not come tomorrow, let's just take a day," said Mr. Stark. "You ever tried shawarma?"

Cap looked puzzled.

"There's a shawarma joint a couple blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."

"We're not finished yet," said Thor.

"Where's Loki?" asked Bella.

"Top of Stark Tower," said Tony with a grin.

"Hulk smashed," said the Hulk, grinning.

**And in the next and final chapter, Bella's superhero name will finally be revealed. I hope I chose a good one… I'm not too sure of it.**

**I finished my story **_**We Don't Belong Here**_**. First story I've finished on here. Just telling those of you who haven't finished. And it seems I will finish this one soon as well… I'll miss Bella and Ivy, but don't worry, they'll probably be back soon. Sometime after May 3****rd****.**

**After that, I have a special story I'm planning out for Bella. I'm not giving away anything in the way of details right now. I want to wait until **_**Iron Man 3 **_**comes out to make permanent decisions aside from a few details.**


	27. Chapter 27

Bella heard Pepper coming before she saw her.

"_Tony Stark_!" yelled a female voice.

Bella flinched slightly as Pepper entered the room, glaring at Tony, who was lying on a hospital bed, eating the shawarma they'd ordered.

"Hi, Pepper," said Tony. "Shawarma?"

His intended peace offering was ignored. "Tony, _why_ is there a video on youtube of you flying a nuclear missile through that portal in New York?"

"Um…probably because I did?"

Pepper took a deep breath. Then another. And then another. "Do you have any _idea_ what I went through watching you fall to your death?"

Bella smiled to herself, watching them. She had already forgiven Tony. Like she'd told him the night he'd destroyed his house, she wasn't very good at staying angry, and she'd been so relieved after he survived that she didn't care. Well, she might have been a little mad at him after they'd left the shawarma restaurant, but she was fine now.

"No, I don't," said Tony. "Do you know I went through falling to my death?"

Pepper looked torn between pity and rage. She turned her attention to Bella. "Why didn't you try to stop him?"

Bella swallowed. She didn't see a point in making Pepper angrier by telling her Tony had frozen the suit. "It had to be done, Pepper. Otherwise, who knows what the Chitauri would have done?"

"Why?" repeated Pepper. "And where was Phil in all this? He told me he'd keep you out of trouble."

Bella and Tony exchanged glances.

Bella spoke up first. "He… he's dead. Loki stabbed him," she continued, the words tumbling out. She didn't know how a person went about telling someone news like that, but decided to do it quickly, like pulling off a band aid. Bella couldn't meet Pepper's eyes. "He was trying to help me. Loki had me trapped, Agent Coulson tried to stop him."

Pepper sank down into the chair next to Bella's.

There was silence in the room for a moment. Had that been the best way? Should she have done it differently? What did she do now? "I'll leave you two alone," she said, standing up, picking up her suitcase, and leaving the room.

The moment she stepped outside of the door and into the hall, she was cornered by two reporters.

"Miss Stark, your father nearly died flying that portal!" said a woman. "What were you thinking while that was going on?"

Bella swallowed hard. "I…"

"Miss Stark, what do you know about the group known as the Avengers who helped you and Iron Man save the city?" said the other.

How did they even find out what it was called? "Um, I'm not sure if –"

"Hey!" said a male voice, belonging to Tony's bodyguard. "You're not supposed to be allowed up here."

Behind him was Agent Barton, glaring at them. The two reporters very wisely backed off.

"Thank you," said Bella.

"No problem," said Happy, walking away, probably to figure out how the reporters had gotten to them, leaving her with Agent Barton, who was helping him out. Reporters were unusually desperate to talk to Tony that day, so Barton had volunteered to help.

There was silence for a moment.

"What's going to happen to Loki?" asked Bella.

"He'll be facing Asgardian justice. Much as I'd like to see it happen here, he'll get a fair trial there." He sighed. "I keep remembering things I did. Attacking you… I'm sorry. I should have tried harder –"

Bella cut him off. "Did you do any of this of your own accord? Or was it all forced by Loki?"

"Of course it was all forced!" he snapped.

"There you are, then," said Bella. "I don't blame you, no one else does. And besides, when you got into the Tower? If you attacked me right now, with no armor on, it wouldn't be much of a fight, you'd win. But you found it more difficult, didn't you?"

Barton said nothing.

"This incident doesn't say _anything_ about you, just about Loki. It's every inch Loki. I've done my share of things I regret, but had no control over. I don't blame myself for them any more." She was still in the process of forgiving herself, but believed that would come, eventually. "You shouldn't blame yourself when there was nothing you could do about it."

"Miss Stark –"

"And please, Agent Barton, call me Bella, you've known me for long enough."

"Miss… Bella," he said. "I killed people."

"In the first six years of my life - at least, the ones I can remember - I probably killed more people than you ever will. People die either way. There is no difference, only that you pulled the trigger yourself instead of having someone do it for you. I've done things far worse than you. But I had no choice. It was forced. Could you have done anything differently, Agent Barton?"

He thought for a moment. "No."

"Exactly. Cou – " she almost mentioned Coulson, then quickly stopped herself. "Someone told me you attacked Loki – you were just doing your job, and it went wrong. You're not to blame. The only person to blame for all of this is Loki. I still have yet to completely forgive myself – I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it, in one way or another. But it ultimately wasn't my fault. It was my employers'."

There was a short silence. "I can't believe I had that discussion with a fifteen year old."

"Actually my birthday's in a few months."

"Have you picked out a superhero name yet?"

"Yes, actually. After the battle." She hesitated. She hadn't told anyone except Tony. "It's Silver Shield. After my, um, little move that I came up with. The one I used on the Chitauri. You should see how often they've been showing it on TV. And besides, basically, superheroes _are_ shields, aren't they?"

"I suppose so," said Barton.

Bella walked back to the door and peeked back in.

Tony was sliding something onto Pepper's hand. Pepper's face glowed.

"Excuse me," she said to Barton, and stepped back inside the room.

A diamond glittered on Pepper's hand.

"I, uh, made a quick stop in Germany," said Tony. "When we went to stop Loki."

Bella released a squeal.

The idea of perfection was, as she knew, a theory, an ideal. Not something realistically attainable.

Still, it did seem as if life had gotten as close as possible.

**And so, we reach the end!**

**Does everyone think Bella's superhero name is okay? I've made you wait a long time for it… was it worth it? Did you all enjoy this story? I'm open to advice.  
**

**Iron Man 3 comes out on Saturday (I think)! YAY! It may take some time until I can find a time to go… hopefully no more than a week or two, considering the fact that everyone will probably want to talk about it and I will be avoiding all that in order to avoid spoilers. After that, I'll start the sequel to this and to **_**We Don't Belong Here**_**. You may have to wait a bit, as I prefer to finish stories before I start posting them… I'll try not to take too long. And that story may or may not dig into Bella's back story a little more. Nothing for sure yet, though I've got some ideas bouncing around in my head.**

**And so, farewell. For now.  
**


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